All That And A Bowl Of Ramen
by Destiny-Scouts
Summary: Well, we Destinies have a knack of which the Anime Portal brings us into our favorite Anime. This has ranged from InuYasha, Yuu Yuu Hakusho and now Naruto. What havoc will insue as we get placed into the dangerous world of the ninja? Calismo
1. Chapter One

**Welcome to the world of Naruto! Kyaa, Naruto is one of my favorite animes so I'm trying a few fanfics on it. Whew, another self-insert story with...the Destinies/confetti falls/ Ahaha, being silly. So...this is my second written Naruto fanfic so be nice but don't be afraid to be mean. Not really mean but you know what I mean. o.0 Okay, that's it. I'm stopping right now. Before I embarrass myself. Kyu...**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is in the possession of Masashi Kishimoto. Yay him! Or her...**

**

* * *

Chapter One**

"What are you doing, Sun? We can't just walk in here. This is Konoha. A _ninja _city. They'll massacre us!"

"Oh, Calismo--you worry too much. Besides, you know everything about this place, right? And we know our fair share of its happenings too..."

"Neriede, this is all too familiar," Abyss states, thinking back to when they were with the Teen Titans. "I mean, the anime portal is really picking on us. Teen Titans was bad, but this is _Naruto. _I mean, serious blood and death."

"I know," Neriede shrugs, "but until the anime portal chooses to take us back we're stuck here."

"Great," Calismo whacks her head. "We are all going to die."

"Come on!" Sun shakes her. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Oh, don't worry--I have one. Just...not for Naruto."

The four girls stop at the edge of Konoha's gates, preparing to knock. Labeled above they are Sun, Calismo, Neriede, and Abyss. But in reality they are none other than the Destiny Scouts: Meagan, Olivia, Nissi, and Vanessa. The nicknames are only temporary, until they find out who are their enemies and who are their allies. And it looks like they are just about to find out as four people come walking down the road towards the gates. Three kids and one adult. The four look up expectantly as they come closer into view.

The three teenagers in front look somewhat friendly. At least, the one with bright blond hair does. He is grinning like a maniac, blue eyes sparkling. The Destinies know him to be Naruto. The pink haired girl at his right is...smiling and frowning all at the same time. It seems that she is smiling to the raven haired boy next to her and frowning at Naruto. The Destinies do not know how this is possible but are not going to question about it now. Sakura. And the raven haired boy looks a bit pissed. Ah, Sasuke. The adult behind them is none other than the famous Kakashi, reading his dirty book: Come, Come Paradise.

But wait. There is one more teenager sulking at the back of the group. His cold demeanor sends shivers down the Destinies' spines. Red hair, light green eyes, and a kanji sign of "love" on his forehead. Gaara. /**a.n.--Please remember that Sun is Meagan, Calismo is Olivia, Neriede is Nissi, and Abyss is Vanessa.**/ Olivia shivers, staring at the demon that is Gaara. They'll have to be careful around him.

"Ah?" Naruto notices them first. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Look!"

"Hm?" Kakashi looks up from his book, spotting the sitting Destinies. "Oh. Who are you girls?"

"Um...new." Nissi shrugs. "Are we allowed to go in?"

"Are you citizens?"

"No."

"Well, where are you from?"

"A long, long ways away," Meagan informs them.

"And what is your business in Konoha?"

"We want to become ninjas!" Vanessa blurts. Her friends stare at her in awe. "Right, guys?"

"Uh...right." Olivia confirms. "We want to become ninja."

"Hn. That's stupid. I can't even sense any energy from you," Sasuke sneers. Olivia chooses not to reply, but Meagan flares.

"Hey. How dare you insult her? She knows tons about you, so why don't you shut up?"

"Sun!" Olivia whispers furiously. "Shut up!"

Before Sasuke can reply, Kakashi cuts back in, telling the Destinies that he will take them to see the Hokage and see what he can set up for them. They bow respectfully, thanking him profusely. Then he instructs them to follow behind them. So the Destinies scurry to the back, close to Gaara. They keep their distance, flinching when he turns around to stare at them. Thankfully, he turns back around quickly as if he finds them of no interest.

"Ne, Calismo--what's his story?" Vanessa pokes her.

Olivia's eyes widen in fear and she shakes her head to indicate that she will tell them later. _He'll kill us if he finds we know his past. _So the four continue on in silence, passing through Konoha with wide eyes. It's just so...big. Much bigger than the anime makes it seem. The Hokage's office comes into view and the team heads for it. Slowly the Destinies pick up their pace until they are in front of Gaara. Either that or Gaara's trying to get away.

"Hey! Where are _you _going?" Nissi asks Gaara.

Kakashi turns around. "Oy, Gaara--you have to stay here, even if you don't like it. So don't make it hard on yourself."

Gaara scowls, sending several glares towards the Destinies. Particularly Nissi. The cork of his gourd comes out and falls to the floor. Olivia pales, taking a step back. "Um...sorry about that." She grabs her friends and runs up towards Naruto, accidently bumping into him. He turns around to face them and gives them a wide grin. They smile also. _Kawaii..._they think.

"Hokage-sama? I've brought Gaara and...some others."

"Others? Kakashi, what have you done?"

"Mou, it wasn't _me_. They just appeared."

The Destinies poke their heads in. The Hokage, Tsunade, sits at her desk looking bored. She immediately perks up when she notices the Destinies. She is pretty, the Destinies notice. Olivia purposely neglects to tell her friends that Tsunade is actually around 50, as opposed to 20 or so as she looks right at this moment. She can't trust them to keep quiet about that fact. Tsunade beckons for them to come in.

"What are your names?"

"I-I'm Neriede," Nissi chooses to stick with the nicknames. "This is Calismo, Abyss, and Sun."

"I am the Hokage of Konoha. But you girls can call me Tsunade-sama. This is--"

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Gaara," Meagan cuts in.

"Eh? How did you know?"

"Um...Calismo told us!"

"And how did she know?"

"Uh...she's psychic!"

"We're _all_ psychic, actually," Calismo informs them. She shoots her friends a _don't focus the attention on me _look before smiling at Tsunade.

She shrugs and asks them what they plan on doing in Konoha. Nissi explains, and Tsunade once again shrugs. "Where would you like to stay?"

"S-stay?"

"I guess I should put you in the same complex as Gaara. You can make sure he doesn't run away."

The Destinies can feel Gaara's red hot glare focused upon them and shiver, but nod their heads in a weak "okay." Tsunade tosses Meagan the keys, which are quickly snatched away by Gaara. She pouts, but doesn't do anything. /**a.n--Yay for Meagan's self-control!**/ Gaara turns and walks out of the office, the Destinies hot on his heels. Living with him is going to be difficult, the Destinies can tell. But they'll just have to make the most of it until they can go home. The building is nice and new as opposed to some of the buildings around the area. The inside is furnished neatly as well; equipped with three rooms; two beds in each.

Gaara instantly chooses the biggest room and locks himself in it, leaving the Destinies to fend for themselves. Meagan looks at Olivia and the two walk into one of the rooms, leaving the other one for Vanessa and Nissi. As soon as they take a good look around their rooms, they meet in the front room and situate themselves on the couches. Meagan's stomach growls.

"I'm hungry."

"Obviously," Vanessa gets up and follows her into the kitchen.

Olivia warns them, "You can't eat all the food you know. Better save some for us. And Gaara."

"So," Vanessa speaks with her mouth full of fresh fruit, "what's his deal anyways?"

"I'd rather not tell until he's asleep," Olivia ponders that last statement. "Wait, scratch that. He doesn't sleep. Okay, I guess I'll tell you when we're very isolated."

"Aww, why?"

"Because he could kill me."

"Would he?"

"Yes," Olivia nods her head furiously. "Yes he would. Abyss, toss me a kiwi."

Vanessa complies and Olivia is soon biting into the delicious fruit. Then Vanessa sits back down, "I wonder what kind of training they're going to put us through?"

"EHH!"

The Destinies stare dumbfounded as their new teacher, Iruka, explains what he wants them to do.

"I want you to form a seal of the tiger and say 'bunshin no jutsu.' Is that too hard?"

"N-no but...you want us to _replicate_?"

"Just to see if you can do it."

The four glance at each other in dismay. They had been woken up early in the morning by a scowling Gaara who told them that they were wanted over at the Academy. So they dressed and rushed out the door without any breakfast until the fact registered that they did not know _where_ the Academy was. So after trying to scout it out for a few moments and failing, the girls decided to ask this man on the street who turned out to be their sensei.

"I feel so stupid saying this..." Olivia whispers to her friends. "It's just...weird."

"Bunshin no jutsu!" the four recite simultaneously.

There are four loud "poofs!" and when the smoke clears away, they see the results. It's a bit pathetic, actually. Three copies lay sprawled across the ground in useless heaps. Only one copy is actually worth anything and that is Vanessa's. Her friends grin at her and give her the thumbs-up which encourages her to jump and dance around the floor on which they are practicing. Iruka watches in amusement. _They're not even upset that they couldn't do it. _"Once more for those that couldn't do it."

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

Three more useless copies lay on the floor. Iruka-sensei makes them practice and practice and practice until all four of them can--at any given moment--summon two copies of themselves. Two _perfect _copies, I might add. But...all the practice is wearing them out. They are not used to using so much chakra, or any chakra for that matter. So Iruka dismisses them early, telling them to come back at the same time tomorrow.

"Oh man, I'm wiped," Nissi collapses into a chair once they've reached their temporary home. "Did anybody even know we had any chakra in ourselves to begin with? Because I didn't..."

"Ditto..."

"What time is it?" Sun demands as she fans herself.

"Mm..time to eat."

"RAMEN!" a voice shouts from the doorway. The Destinies shriek.

Naruto flies in, grabbing their hands and calling for Gaara to come out of his bedroom. He does so, looking extremely unhappy. But Naruto, oblivious to his anger, pulls him along anyways, yelling something about bowls and bowls of ramen. The Destinies pick it up quick and mouth "Ichiraku Ramen" to each other. Not too hard to figure out, actually, considering it's practically the only place Naruto eats. The Destinies and Gaara are dragged through the streets and as they walk through the entrance of the ramen stand, they see Kakashi and Sasuke sitting on the stools.

"Ano...where's Sakura?" Nissi looks around.

"Date with Lee," Naruto informs her as he seats himself and prepares to order.

The Destinies raise their eyebrows. Lee, the hyper subordinate of Gai-sensei. Who'd've ever thought that Sakura would fall for him? Oh well. The four girls sit themselves down until they realize that there is no more room for Gaara. "Um..."

"It's okay," he says softly, "I'll stand."

The four watch him move over and lean against a wall. _What a weirdo. But we really can't talk so..._ They give their orders to the pretty girl before them and within five minutes before each of the girls is a huge bowl of steaming ramen. The smell of it wafts up to their noses. Picking up their chopsticks and giving the traditional "Itadakimasu!" they dig in. By the time that they finish with their first one, Naruto is on his sixth. Sasuke stares at him as if he's going to puke, and Kakashi reads his novel. Curious, Vanessa plucks it out of his hands.

"Oy, Abyss--give that back."

"Catch me if you can!" Vanessa runs out of the ramen stand, finished with her lunch.

o.0 Nissi and Meagan shoot off after her, closely followed by a laughing Olivia. In desperation, Kakashi begs Sasuke to go get back his book. Sasuke refuses but with a little blackmail on Kakashi's part, he quickly rushes out to catch them. By this time the four girls are all together, skirting through the trees and trying to lose whoever it is that's following them. They are all laughing by this time, writing little side comments in the book (in pencil; we're not that evil) as they run. But then the terrible happens: they trip.

In the confusion of the fall the friends do not exactly know who tripped first. Some say Vanessa, some say Olivia, and some say Meagan and Nissi. But the fact is that the four trip and go toppling over the edge of a waterfall. /**a.n.--I wouldn't put it past us...kyu...**/ It is not a very large waterfall, but it is large enough so that the Destinies pick up a good amount of speed before actually _hitting _the water, making a very loud splash in the process. And with the noise it is much easier for Sasuke to pinpoint their location. That and the rainbow now hanging above their heads.

"You four..." Sasuke drags them out one by one, starting with Meagan. "How much trouble do you think you're going to cause before you go back to wherever you came from?"

"Oh, trust us Sasuke. We'll be causing lots of trouble. It's in our blood."

"Hn. Perfect. You're like...mini-Naruto's!"

The picture that pops into the girls' heads at that moment makes them stop and think. They imagine themselves wearing that bright orange jumper saying "I'm going to be Hokage!" over and over again. And then they laugh. Sasuke twitches at their stupidity, then demands that the book be placed in his hands. Vanessa looks away, "Uh..."

"Well, Sasuke," Nissi takes over, "Abyss kind of...let it go."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke whispers furiously.

"I mean on impact I dropped the stupid book so now it's floating out there somewhere," Vanessa points.

"NOO!" Sasuke drops to his knees in defeat. "Now Kakashi will expose my secret."

"Eh?"

"If I don't get that book back," he glares at them angrily, "Kakashi is going to tell the whole city about the time I lost a bet to Naruto and had to dress as a maid and serve him for two weeks."

"What was the bet about?" Olivia inquires.

"I bet him that I could eat more ramen than him."

"Well that was stupid," Meagan grins. Sasuke nods glumly. "Don't worry, Sasuke! We'll just get him a new one. But...we don't have any money and I _know _we're underage so...what to do?"

"I have a plan," Nissi cackles.

Ten minutes later, the closet-pervert Eibisu is walking into a bookstore buying a new copy of the book for the Destinies. Sasuke stares at them, amazed. "How did you know Naruto had blackmail on him?"

"Psychic," Olivia taps Nissi's head. "Duh."

The four beam at Sasuke, who sweat drops. But he immediately perks up as he sees Eibisu coming out of the exit door with a bag clutched tightly in his hands. Nissi holds her hand out for it. Eibisu hesitates.

"I don't know. I've been wanting this volume for quite some time now..."

"What was that?" Meagan says dangerously.

"So yes, I think I'll keep it."

"Uh-oh...problem," Vanessa says.

Meagan puts her hand on her forehead before kicking Eibisu where it hurts and catching the bag as he drops it. "Problem solved!"

She runs back to Ichiraku Ramen only to find Naruto on his twenty-fifth bowl. Her stomach turns, as do the other Destinies when they see it. Sasuke presents the book to Kakashi, who takes it without a second glance. _Good, _Sasuke sighs, _he doesn't notice. _He collapses back into his chair and orders a bowl of ramen for himself. Normally he would die before eating here but...working with those girls really racks up an appetite. The Destinies excuse themselves and try heading back towards their home, only to become hopelessly lost again.

"It's this way," Vanessa insists, pointing to her left.

"No, I'm sure it's this way," Meagan points behind her.

Olivia doesn't really know which way it is and Nissi doesn't care as long as they are moving so they choose to go Meagan's way, walking in that direction until they have become even more lost. The four lean against an old building as they feel themselves becoming more and more tired. They chide themselves for not being more patient and waiting until Gaara was ready to leave so they could've left with him and avoided this whole conflict.

"Guys, I'm really sure it's over in _this _direction," Vanessa points again.

"Hey."

The four girls shriek and point as Gaara comes into view. "Oh my gosh, don't _do _that."

"Shut up. I'm saving your butts here. The house is _that _way." He points in the same direction that Vanessa did.

"SEE! I told you! No one ever listens to me!" Vanessa cries.

Olivia pats her friend sympathetically, "It's okay Vanessa." o.o "Oops."

"Vanessa?" Gaara stares at her. "I thought your name was Abyss."

"Um, it is!" Nissi jumps in. "Vanessa is her nickname."

"...Whatever. Let's just go."

Gaara turns to lead them back to the house. Olivia sighs, apologizing to her friends for nearly blowing their cover. They assure her that it is fine and as long as she doesn't do it again they will be good. Vanessa, still fuming over the fact that she was right and no one believed her, strode a bit ahead of her friends until she was almost surpassing Gaara. Needless to say he didn't want her around him so he himself put on an extra burst of speed. And then it became a race back to the house, with Gaara as the victor and all the Destinies coming into second place.

"Don't bother me," he whispers dangerously low, stomping off to his room.

The Destinies stick their tongues out at him before dropping wearily to the floor and remaining there for several hours. Their first adventure is complete, and it is obvious that many more are soon to follow.

* * *

/**Okay that does it for chapter one. Well, Meagan and Nissi are writing that one fic about us going to the world of Teen Titans and Meagan is writing--by herself--that one of us in Inuyasha. So I'm going to try us going to Naruto! Even though I'm doing one of us in Yu Yu Hakusho...that's not exactly the same as we weren't transported there or anything. We were just there and we ended up meeting them. Okay, I'm rambling. But I'm done now. So what did you think? Good--please comment. Bad--please comment. And if you are going to flame me then don't bother reviewing but if you just _have _to please make sure that you are signed in. I hate people who can't sign in or at least give their real username. Pisses me off...anyways that's just if you want to flame. Other than that do whatever you want! Calismo, signing off! Oh but before I do...it's true. No one ever listens to Vanessa and then she is usually right. Haha./ **


	2. Chapter Two

**Blerg...Hm, I haven't said that word in a while. Have you ever had a word you say that drives someone up the wall? I have one: Big whoop. Drives my brother crazy. But I like it so yeah...Mou, it's raining! It's raining! -- I don't know why I said that. This chapter is going to be broken into lots of little parts, just to warn you...Oh well--here's Chapter Two. By the way, Nissi came up with the title!**

**Disclaimer: It's not mine and if you try to sue me...Nissi has a very large whacking stick /evil laughter from Nissi/ so prepared to be whacked.**

**

* * *

Chapter Two**

Meagan turns over in her bed, unable to go back to sleep. Groaning she pushes the covers back and lets her feet dangle above the floor until she can't stand it anymore and jumps onto it. It's cold; she shivers. But she continues walking across the bedroom floor until she trips over what seems to be a backpack. It appears to be green and purple: Olivia's scout colors. (1) Eyes scanning the room for another one and sure enough there it is: yellow and orange. _The anime portal is taking care of us..._

Happy at this fact Meagan pushes open the door and exits into the hallway, heading for Nissi's room to check if her bags are there as well. And they are: pink and white for Nissi and red and black for Vanessa. Meagan nods her head in satisfaction and prepares for a midnight snack.

But as she passes Gaara's door she notices that it is slightly open, so she puts her head in. No one is there. "Hm...oh yeah! He doesn't sleep."

Meagan shivers at the prospect that someone can go forever without sleep. _I'd kill myself before I choose to not sleep. _The thought makes her head spin, so she drops it, grabs an apple, and sits down on the couch. _On second thought..._ Swiftly she reenters her room, dragging her bag back out to the couch and rummaging through the contents. Some clothes which she cannot really see at the moment, several packets of gum, and other things that she cannot see in the darkness. But one item that she doesn't need to see to know what it is catches her attention.

"Yes," she whispers, pulling out her c.d. player.

Flipping open the top she sees that it is her Vanessa Carlton c.d. Snuggling down into the couch Meagan blasts the music in her ears, savoring the sweet sound. She is asleep in minutes.

oOo

"Wha--"

"Ohyao!" Olivia pushes her face into Meagan's. "Wake up, Sun!"

"AAAH!"

"AAAH!"

Olivia recoils, tripping over the rug and falling on her back. Gaara stares down at her, an amused but annoyed expression on his face. She gives a weak smile before dragging herself up and asking why Meagan screamed. She points.

"He was right behind you. Why did _you_ scream?"

"Um...because you did!"

"Baka onna."

"Baka onni."

The two make faces at each other before stomping off to their rooms. At least, until they remember that they are sharing the same room, at which point they simply burst into laughter. This attracted the attention of Nissi and Vanessa who promptly finished dressing and came out of their room to see what is going on. Meagan and Olivia, still shaking with laughter, tell them, and pretty soon they are laughing too. That is, until Gaara comes out with sand swirling around him furiously. They snap at the girls like whips; they scream.

"Stop laughing," he commands them, turning swiftly and returning to his room.

The Destinies stare at his retreating figure, unsure to be their usual crazy selves and squish him in a hug or just do as he says and get out of earshot as soon as possible. The latter of the choices seems to fit their best interests at the moment so they quietly back out of the room with their mouths closed as tightly as possible. Nissi bounces her head back and forth, back and forth as if she is entertaining some very strange thoughts. Which she is. Come on--this is Nissi! Her usually calm and mysterious face twists in happiness as she thinks of all the possibilities until she has settled on just one.

"I have it," she tells her friends. "Now...help me pull it off."

oOo

"Sakura," Kakashi appears in the window of his charge's room, scaring her. "How about a walk, ne?"

"What do you want, pervert?"

"Come on!"

Relunctantly Sakura takes Kakashi's outstretched hand and he poofs her to the edge of one of the many tiny--but not too tiny--clusters of trees. Sakura eyes him suspiciously but follows him through the forest and tells him about her day as he asks. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and Haruno Sakura has absolutely no idea whatsoever that she is, at this very moment, helping the Destinies plan go a lot smoother.

oOo

"NARUTO!" Nissi yells, waving her arms and interrupting his ramen eating. "Naruto, where is your hat?"

"Ano...my hat?" Naruto's kawaii blue eyes stare up at Nissi in confusion. "Oh! You mean the one I sleep with?"

"YES! The one that looks like it's eating you!"

"What about it?"

"I wanna see it!" Nissi pleads, clutching her hands together and placing them right before Naruto's eyes.

"Um...okay," Naruto pushes his chair back with a loud squeak and walks back to his room, grabbing the funny looking hat that appears to be eating him when he wears it from his dresser. "But you have to give it right back."

Nissi snatches it from his hand so quick, jumping out of a window in the process, that Naruto barely catches it. Hearing her distant cry of "IT'S MINE!" Naruto springs into action, grabbing his Konoha forehead protector and tying it around his forehead before running out the door calling Nissi's (which he knows to be Neriede) name. He sees her yellow shirt flash amongst the green trees from his perch on top of a high building and shoots off after her.

"Neriede!"

"Never! You'll never catch me!"

Naruto does not stop to think about why Nissi is making her presence so very clear to him, like a good ninja should, but follows after her like a good ninja shouldn't. It is clearly a trap but he doesn't really stop to think about it until the first thing happens. As Nissi runs down a straight, narrow path, he follows after her. Olivia and Meagan crouch behind two trees, one on each side of the road, holding one end of a long piece of string in their hands.

As Nissi runs past the string hidden underneath the leaves the two had earlier scattered around the trail. As Naruto comes running by it, they instantly pull up on the string, making him trip. And if that weren't enough (which it isn't) Olivia pulls on a _second _string which is tied to something nestled between two low branches. it is...a white bucket. And as it comes down Naruto looks up and sees this yellow/golden liquid come pouring down on his head. It is honey. Sticky, gooey, golden honey that seems to be mixed with some kind of cheese. (**a/n: Nissi's idea!**) There are even little chunks of swiss cheese here and there.

Surprised, he tries to stand up and fails miserably. So he crawls on all fours until he is out of the way of the mess and can stand up again, despite the fact that he is weighed down by the honey. Blinking furiously, Naruto sees Nissi's grinning face appear from behind a tree. He pouts for a moment, thinking of what to do. He decides to resume his chase. After all, she still has his hat.

"Neriede! Look what you did!"

He resumes his chase.

"Oy. Kakashi...what are we doing out here?" Sakura moans.

"This way, this way!"

Run, run, run. Nissi leads Naruto through various twists and turns of the path until they are coming up to a fork in the road. Glimpsing back at Naruto, Nissi grins and points to the left, which is where she runs. Naruto has fallen a bit behind, having just come back from a hard mission, and puts on a burst of speed trying to catch her. And he almost does: for one moment, Nissi thinks that her plan is going to fail. But it doesn't. At the exact point that Nissi had told her to, Vanessa throws out a bucket of slippery...stuff. Once again Naruto's feet scramble around him, leaving him with no control in his legs. He tries desperately to turn to the left but instead his dancing feet carry him to the right.

"Oh no..."

He sees something dangling from a tree. And he runs into it. Still covered in sticky honey, Naruto whacks straight into it and becomes covered in fluffy feathers. _I look like a chicken! _He racks his brain furiously for a way to stop the sliding of his feet and get all of these feathers off (not to mention get his hat back) but is unable to do so before the last part of his prank commences. Suddenly there is this tugging motion at his foot and he is lifted up into the air, dangling...dangling...dangling...

"What the hell?" he shouts, trying to untangle himself.

And then, _they _walk in. Kakashi supressing giggles and Sakura supressing the urge to whack her baka teammate into the ground. Naruto's eyes widen in shock. Sakura, the love of his life, is standing before him at this very moment seeing him looking like a chicken. It is too much for poor Naruto to bear. First he lost her to Sasuke, then to Lee. And now...he groans in his hands until he hears his sensei laughing.

"Kakashi-sensei! You were in on this, weren't you?"

His only reply is more laughter.

"Waaah! You're so mean!"

The two spin on their heels and walk away, leaving him clutching at the rope trying to free himself. _This is too familiar..._

**With the Destinies**

"I have it! I have the hat!"

The citizens of Konoha stare strangely as the Destinies come parading through the city looking for something to do. On Nissi's head is the wonderful (**a/n: Even though it annoys the heck out of me.**) hat of Naruto's. She does plan on giving it back to him...eventually. Exploring the shops of Konoha, sad that they have no money to buy the interesting things on the shelf, the Destinies decide to ask someone about their form of currency. And that person happens to be a boy with long dark hair and whitish eyes with no pupils. Neji. He stares at the Destinies with a look that is clearly supposed to frighten them away. But they've seen worse.

"Excuse us," Meagan asks, "but what kind of money do you use here?"

When he doesn't answer Meagan questions Olivia for his name. "Neji."

"Neji, would you be so kind as to answer my question?"

He starts. "How did you know my name?"

"We are psychic," Vanessa rolls her eyes, wondering how long people will buy that line.

It seems that their luck has just run out, as Neji regards them coldly, "I don't believe that."

"I bet I can tell you what you've got hidden under that forehead protector," Olivia challenges.

She marches up to him and whispers the answer in his ear. His eyes widen and he quickly activates his Byakugan, staring at the Destinies closer. "You're fate...you can't fight your fate. You seem to be the type who would fight."

"That's us!" Olivia beams.

"So can you answer my question?" Meagan pleads, pulling on his shirt. (**a/n: I always did like his outfit...**)

"Here," Neji shoves some money into each of the girl's hands, much to their astonishment. "Figure it out yourself."

He walks away with his head down. The four friends look at him, then at each other, then back to him. "THANK YOU NEJI-KUN!"

He winces and quickens his pace, trying to get out of harms way. Unlike some others, Neji knows these girls are capable of much more than they let on. And with shining eyes, the four go off to spend the money they have recieved. The candy shops look most inviting at the moment, so they head off in those directions. Their mouths water as the finest selection of Konoha candy is laid out before them. And jumping around like little kids they infiltrate the store, moving so fast that the store owner can barely see them. He sweat drops as they each come up with quite an amount of candy, asking how much.

"Uh...1700 yen."

"YAY! We have enough!" Nissi shoves a portion of her money into the man's hand. "It's not at all hard to understand when you actually can see it..."

"Yuh."

Exiting the store, Olivia prompts them to think of where to go next. And, as all four girls have a different idea and cannot seem to agree on _anything_, they just choose instead to sit on one of the many benches and munch their candy. It has been a wonderful day, and it's only lunch time. They sincerely hope that the rest of the day will not be ruined with something like training. _Crash. _The candy in the Destinies hands slip from their firm grasps and fall to the floor. Training. They were supposed to go to the Academy for training. O.o

"Oh no! Iruka-sensei is going to kill us!" the four panic, clutching each others shoudlers.

_Whump. _The Destinies pause in their panic attack to notice their backpacks falling from the sky. "Huh?" They drag them over to where they are sitting, digging through them and shifting through familiar items and unfamiliar items. The clothes particularly. Each of the Destinies pull out their two sets of clothes that the anime portal has provided them with, looking them over. They are pretty much the same, except the accent colors. All eight of the outfits are black with the colors of the respective Destiny accenting the outfit. For Olivia it is green, for Meagan it is orange, for Vanessa red, and for Nissi pink.

"Cool!"

They stuff them back into their bags and instead bring out their cd players. They know that they must not use these too often, nor let anyone use them. They are not sure if cd players have been invented yet... Each girl succumbs to the bliss of their favorite artists. Barlow Girls, Vanessa Carlton, Evanescence, and My Chemical Romance (**a/n: Yay My Chemical Romance!**) So much so, in fact, that they don't notice Naruto creeping up behind them. "HA!" He grabs his hat back--still looking like a chicken, I might add--and runs away before Nissi can notice.

"Oh...so nice..." she murmurs, reaching for her hat. She finds it to be gone.

Eyes snapping open, she grabs at her hair and feeling only that: her hair. "NOOO! NARUTO!" Dropping her cd player next to Olivia, Nissi runs off into the distance to find Naruto and steal his hat back. The others merely crack an eye, notice that Nissi is gone, and go back to their music.

**

* * *

The end of the chapter! It is always the best thing in the world, I tell you. And it's Friday! TGIF, right? Hahaha--whew, sugar high. Since my baka parents have grounded me this won't be posted until Wednesday...heheheheh...O.o Just joking. Review please!**

**(1) We all have colors...**


	3. Chapter Three

**Hello readers! Chapter three is now up. It's later than what I expected because I left my bag at Vanessa's and...T.T Stupid me. My papers were in there. But oh well. Moving on! Here is your chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.**

**

* * *

Chapter Three**

"Iruka-sensei..."

"Hm?"

"We're so sorry!"

The Destinies grovel before their new sensei who is looking at them very weirdly. Having completely forgotten about their training session the Destinies had debated about whether or not to approach Iruka-sensei, woried that he might make them, well, train. But Iruka simply shrugs, pats their heads, and tells them not to be late for tomorrow's lesson. It starts at 7:20. The Destinies give a whoop of joy and as they run out the door--still in their sugar high state--Iruka is struck with a thought. _Heh. They're just like Naruto. _His eyes widen. _Just...like...Naruto. _Shivers run down his spine as he imagines all the damage that will soon be caused. Luckily he's had enough practice with Naruto to know what to do in case of an emergency.

But back to the Destinies. As they run through Konoha scaring all in their path they are unaware that Kakashi is searching for them. But as the silver haired jounin searches his city he has absolutely no idea where the four could be. They aren't like Naruto or Sasuke, who have certain places they head for by instinct. And they aren't like Sakura, following someone around--though she's almost completely dropped that habit. So as stated all he can do is run blindly around hoping to catch a glimpse of them...until he hears the frantic shriek of Sakura off in the distance.

"W-what are you doing?" Sakura backs slowly away from them.

"We are going to--" Meagan stops, turning to her friends. "What _are _we going to do?"

"Random acts of craziness!" Olivia whispers. "So basically nothing."

"Alright then, can I go?" Sakura pleads.

"NO!"

"There you are!"

Kakashi pins the four to a tree, ignoring their struggles and cries for help. They glare at him; he merely smiles in response. Thinking quickly Vanessa reaches out a hand to yank down the jounins mask. He quickly pulls away.

"No! So close."

"You guys!

"Huh?"

"Tsunade-sama wants to see you four now."

Kakashi, untrusting of the kunoichies (1) to be, escorts them there. Tsunade is waiting.

"Sit down girls."

Plop.

"You've come to us during a very conflicted time. We are on the verge of war with a neighboring country. A group in a neighboring country, to be presice."

Blink, blink.

"They have strange ways of pulling people into their schemes. We suspect blackmail or the exchange of money."

Something clicks in Olivia's mind, "Oh. Is that why you've brought Gaara?"

"Exactly."

"What's with him, anyways?" Nissi questions.

"Well you're pyschic--you tell me."

Glare. "Someone won't tell us."

Olivia simply chooses to ignore the fact that she is recieving three mega-death glares at the moment and instead looks up at the cieling. It is dry and cracking, and every once in a while a little bit of plaster falls onto her upraised face. The group sits in silence for a while, all taking in different parts of the room. It is only when they hear the door behind them slide open. Multiple footsteps alert them to the fact that they are being visited by more than one person and that they are circling them at the moment. Tsunade gives them a sly smile.

"Now why don't you girls tell me where you came from."

Gawking, they wonder how they had ever fallen for such an obvious plot. Lure them with the supposed intention of explaining the current situation with their enemies when in fact they are trying to gather information on the girls. The four Destinies sigh. It's not like they weren't anticipating this--if four random people suddenly 'poofed' into their world (though technically no one saw them poof) they would be suspicious too. Suddenly they are pinned to their chairs, compliments of Shikamaru and his shadow-binding technique. The Destinies curse lightly under their breath, knowing that Tsunade has caught them at the best time for interragation. Internet deprived and stuck without knowing when they are going to go back their masks of composure are beginning to crack. But who will crack first?

Naruto and Sasuke advance upon them, looking wickedly happy. They tie up Olivia and Vanessa while Gaara and Neji tie up Nissi and Meagan, and the girls stop struggling after a while, knowing that their efforts are futile. Vaguely Olivia wonders if the infamous interagator Idate is going to come and question them until they crack. But luckily enough it seems that Naruto is going to try his luck first. Everyone else exits and the lights are dimmed, with a single bright light focusing on the Destinies. Naruto walks around them in a strange manner, whacking a stick into his palm every once in a while, smirking.

"It'd be easier for you to just give it up."

The Destinies each blow a raspberry at Naruto, only causing him to smile wider. He mutters something about all the different tactics that everyone else will use against them, raising his voice a little bit each time. If looks could kill, Naruto would be six feet under. Nissi--being the smallest of the group--tries to wiggle her way out of the ropes that currently bind her. She comes very close but Naruto catches her, whacking her hand with his stick sharply. She gasps, glaring at him and feeling the heat from the sting double as she accidently shifts it against the rope. This time tomorrow she'll have a nice welt on her palm.

"You know better than that, Neriede."

"That's cruel, Naruto," Olivia spits.

"Sure you won't give in?"

The four remain silent, screwing their eyes shut in concentration. And when they choose to reopen them--after things have been silent for a few moments--they gasp as they find that Naruto is no longer standing in front of them. Now it is Sasuke. All sorts of scenarios flash through the Destinies minds as they think of the torture that Sasuke is sure to unleash upon them and they turn away from the Uchiha in fear. But when they look back at him, he is wearing the most adorable bishounen-face they've ever seen. They gasp--exploiting their weakness for bishies. How cold.

First Sasuke turns to Nissi, calling her name softly. "Neriede." Her eyes widen as he places his hand on her cheek and smiles the largest smile they've ever seen from him. Quietly and slowly, he asks her questions and Nissi is now under extreme pressure not to answer. In their happiness to be in the land of Naruto the girls never really spoke about what they should say if someone asked where they were from. They just assumed that they'd be able to piece something together when the time came to deal with it. Needless to say that might not be the case in this situation, where they're not able to talk without someone overhearing. Basically, they're screwed.

Seeing that Nissi's mask is about to crack Sasuke gives another smile, coaxing a gasp from Nissi. "W..we're from--"

She is cut off by the sound of the other's screams as they hope to pull her out of her trance. It works. Cursing slightly, Sasuke turns to the others who promptly shut their eyes against the overpowering bishie face. Realizing that they have found a way to counter his plan--and just as he was about to succeed!--Sasuke exits the room, ready to send the next person in. In the two seconds it takes for him to exit and someone else to enter the Destinies manage to send to each other one desperate look: don't say anything.

This plan of theirs works perfectly through the interragation of Neji, Hinata, Neji and Hinata together, Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, Chouji--who basically munched chips hoping they would just spill--and Kiba. Thinking they are free, their hopes instantly drop when Tsunade announces that she is sending in the last person and--if they don't want to be hurt--they should just spill. The door opens and all they can see is a pale hand. But as the figure enters further the familiar red hair and tattoo give him away. Gaara. He sits in front of them and says nothing, merely staring at them as if he wishes they will disappear. Wisely they choose to focus upon his feet instead of daring to be so brave as to look him in the eye.

The minutes tick on, seeming an eternity, and the four wonder whether or not he's going to leave or not. They raise their faces up to the cielings and sigh, stopping when they feel something slither around their bodies. Eyes opening in shock the girls each see a single tentacle of sand circling their bodies and beginning to constrict. Gasping, they realize that Gaara has no intention of leaving the room until they fess up. The single tentacle of sand spreads, encasing them in a circle of sand. Olivia--in her claustrophobic state--begins to scream as the space inside gets smaller and smaller until she can no longer even twitch her hand.

"Olivia!" the others scream.

"Is that her real name?" Gaara asks calmly, releasing a bit of the sand so that their faces are visible. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to constrict some more...?"

Vanessa cracks, "It's her name! I'm Vanessa. Neriede is Nissi. Sun is Meagan. We came from a different land...TV!...poofed in with no understanding of why we're here...!"

It is here that her words become all jumbled up together with the din of the other three Destinies and he decides that his work is done. He releases them from the sand and exits the room. Tsunade soon enters.

"Are you ready to tell me?"

The girls nod weakly. For the next hour or so the girls proceed to tell Tsunade all about their life in the 'real world' as they call it. She is extremely disturbed at the fact that other people can watch them on the television, and decides that it would not be wise to inform the others about their true whereabouts. She figures that it would be better for the girl's relationship with the others if they didn't know the specifics of where they came from. Finished with their chat--and thoroughly exhausted by their interragations--the girls headed home. When they opened the door there was Gaara, waiting for them in the shadows. Olivia stalked right past him, still angered by his tactics to make them talk.

Gaara watches her pass, but does nothing. The other three, however, march up to him and promptly chide him. Wisely they don't lay a hand on him but soon their verbal chiding becomes to much for him and he storms off to his own room, slamming the door behind him. But presently he comes back and points at the three seperately, saying their names as he does so.

"Nissi. Vanessa. Meagan," he says slowly. They nod. Turning slowly, he points to Olivia's room. "Olivia?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yells.

"What is her _problem_?"

"She's claustrophobic! What is you're problem, locking her in there?"

A flash of sand shoots out at them and they scramble for cover, taking refuge behind the very large couches. As his door slams for the second time, the remaining Destinies find it safe to move from their safe spot, peering over the couch tentatively. Then, suddenly, there is a knock on the door.

* * *

**Ha! I finished. Yes, yes, yes! Finally. -sigh- Now I have to write the fourth chapter. -sweatdrop- This is going to be a long story, to be sure. >. Till next chapter, ja!**


	4. Chapter Four

**Finally I get the chance to update. X3 now that my computer hardware has been wiped a thousand times and my computer is working. Well the only drastic change is that Meagan is gone. –cries- It still hasn't sunk in for me. I still think she's off on vacation. Stupid me, yah?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**

* * *

Chapter Four**

"So deprived. Need…caffeine!"

Vanessa moped about the house with the air of one who is bored beyond all reason. Iruka-sensei had sent her home upon the completion of the days training—in which she was excelling—leaving her with nothing to do but pine away at her loss of caffeine. Unlike Nissi and Olivia, who pine more for sugar, Vanessa is a caffeine freak all the way!

"Maybe the poof gods will send me a sign." (1)

Yanking on her shoes and running out the door, only the thought of something—anything—happening keeps her from plopping onto the couch and gathering dust for all eternity.

-0-0-

"COKE!"

Vanessa dives to the base of the soda machine, determined to buy every last can of coke it has. There, illuminated in the machine, is the wonderful 150 yen bottle of Coca-Cola in all its glory. In her happiness she did not ask herself why there were numerous soda machines in the middle of the trees—which was where she had been exploring—and not any on the main streets. But that is a question for another time. Back to the current situation, she desperately needs the soda. However…she is short on money.

In all her slyness she dashes out of the woods and runs back home, raiding everyone's personal money stash. Nissi's, Meagan's, Olivia's, and yes—even Gaara's. Thirty minutes later she sits in the room she shares with Nissi, slowly sipping on her cans until they slowly become emptier and emptier…

"Vanessa?"

The Destinies are home followed closely by Gaara. The red-head looks disgruntled, as if he had been jumped by the three Destinies. (2) It is too dark, and all the shades are pulled down. On a day as beautiful as this, to have the shades down is like a sin. Room by room the four inhabitants go around lighting up the rooms, coming at last to Nissi's.

There is a pronounced evil seeping through the bottom of the door; one that the Destinies do not like at all. But it is their duty to deal with it, so bravely they push the door open and peer inside.

"THE LIGHT! IT BURNS! IT BURNS US!"

In the three second period in which the Destinies had to look inside the room they saw coke bottles strewn everywhere and Vanessa—her eyes wide and jumpy—trying to huddle away from the light. Olivia slams the door shut; Nissi and Meagan push against it so that Vanessa cannot escape. That would be disastrous.

"We must slowly bring her back," Nissi confirms. "Slowly!"

Gaara is uninterested, "Why not just whack her to her senses?"

WHAM! The building shakes, causing everyone to fall on their butts. A shriek, wild and terrible, tattles through them as Meagan wrenches the door open. Gaara's mouth drops at what he sees: a rather large hole in the wall; Vanessa broke through it with apparent ease. Nissi turns and whacks Gaara as if he had brought the situation upon them by suggesting they hit her.

"Now do you see!"

"Quickly, we must go after her!"

"No, if we go we'll be out for hours. Besides, we just got finished with training; we're in no shape to hunt!"

"True—I'm sore all over."

"So we'll just…wait here."

"Yes."

"…"

"We're going to die, aren't we?"

Meanwhile, on the streets of Konoha, a blond blur is rushing from building to building trying to find an unlocked one to shield herself from the light. _'Need…soda!' _Unfortunately for her Konoha's inhabitants are pretty careful with their security, locking their doors and such. So none were proving useful—save one. The door clicks open so easily that anyone might've entered. The house practically begs to be violated. Luckily for her the lights are dimmed. She extinguishes them quickly, and then spots it.

"So shiny!"

-0-0-

Kakashi enters his house happily. The Destinies are asking everyone from Naruto to Shikamaru to come to their house, and for once he is not involved with the chaos. Nothing to prevent him from reading Icha Icha Paradise v. 11—yaoi version—in peace.

"Hm?"

'_Something is wrong.' _He senses it from the beginning. This foreboding that something extremely wrong is about to happen. Could someone…be in his house? No! No one enters the great ninja Kakashi's house. But as he rounds the corner, his fears are confirmed. There sits Vanessa amidst what he presumes are…

"My books!" he half-wails, lunging at Vanessa.

"Rawr!" Vanessa dodges, chewing defiantly on one of the remaining pages of v. 11.

Scattered also around Vanessa are bits of glass. Kakashi's mind reels. _'No! Volume 1; there's only a limited amount of copies left. MINE!' _Luckily, Vanessa had not demolished the book when she had destroyed its glass casing. Lucky! Putting two and two together (and coming up with fish! Joking!) Kakashi pulls on the shades and allows all the light to stream through the window and focus on Vanessa. She blinks, the light beginning to snap her out of her craze. That and the fact that she had gone a long while without any caffeine. And the first thing she notices it the very angry Kakashi before her.

"Uh-oh…"

She zooms with the speed of Lee, running and running back home where all of her friends are congregated.

"SAVE ME!" she shouts, hiding behind Olivia—the human shield.

"Why should we? Lemme go!" Olivia tries and fails to pry her friend off of her.

"Because I used all of your money for soda and if Kakashi kills me you'll never get repaid."

oO "Good point."

Kakashi smashes into the house .3 seconds later, livid mad and after Vanessa. Naruto and the others disappear quickly, not wanting to face Kakashi in his crazed state, leaving the Destinies to defend their friend. And defend they do for when something of theirs is on the line they will fight to the death to retain it and they had earned a lot of money by doing little tasks Tsunade-sama requested of them.

Too many hours training in the hot sun had drained the three Destinies but they fought with relish—dodging and punching and kicking and blocking—until Kakashi has calmed down enough to think somewhat rationally.

"You," he points to Vanessa, "will replace all my books and my glass case for the first volume."

A bit frightened, Vanessa nods.

"And you will pay us back," Meagan adds, not happy that her savings were used for something so trivial as soda.

Vanessa doesn't nod to that one at first but as the Destinies death-glare her, she realizes that it's just best to say she will, even if she really won't. Thus Kakashi storms off, still furious about the day's events. Even worse—it's only noon. What other havoc will the girls wreak today? As he enters his house Kakashi almost regrets bringing the girls into Konoha. Almost. A wicked grin crosses his face.

He never said he wouldn't get revenge.

**

* * *

Muuh, that was a bit short but the next chapter will be uber-long! I dedicate this chapter to the Gure of Yokosuka! Mwaha, off to deviantART!**

**(1) We have agreed that the poof gods (who are nothing compared to the true God, just to warn ya!) control the anime portal. …I think we're sacrificing an eggplant in hopes they'll send us somewhere.**

**(2) **–**cough- Not me. Well, maybe…-sweatdrop- Well I can't help it that he's so adorable! **


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five! Vanessa has threatened horrible things if I don't update and I don't doubt that she has some horror planned for me so I'm fixing to update at least twice during the next two weeks. This idea is Vanessa's and I modified it to fit with my wonderful plot. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own n-o-t-h-i-n-g.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

The army is coming.

They are advancing on the Konoha village, coming closer with each passing second because of their unmatchable ninja speed. Eight hundred, no, possibly **one thousand** trained ninja killing machines. More than enough to massacre an entire village. They are the band of villains Tsunade had warned the Destinies of upon their arrival. By now the elite ninja of Konoha should be arming themselves for a long and bloody battle. They should be out and ready to protect their small village. But they aren't.

No one knows the army is coming.

No one, that is, save the Destinies. Determined to prove themselves useful the girls forgo warning Tsunade about the oncoming attack and set about to finishing off the army themselves. They have been training for about a week, having gotten over the caffeine incident, and have progressed greatly. But one week of training is going to be useless compared to the **years** of struggle and toil and determination that the killing machines coming towards them have spent perfecting their techniques. This would be a problem for the Destinies…

…if they were using jutsu.

Cackling madly, Vanessa orders her friends into certain positions. They walk slowly and carry between them a thick metal pot. Tsunade had pointed them out earlier in the week—completely indestructible, the pots could hold any acidic material without dissolving. Perfect for what the Destinies have in mind. Finally settling into place the Destinies look over their work. Namely, the thick trenches in the ground that had taken them all morning to dig. And what a memorable morning it had been.

Meagan and Eunice, having gone out for a morning walk, had spotted a scout lurking on the outer edge of the gate. He had spotted them, shot at them, and ran off. Luckily for them they had tripped and fell just as the attack whizzed over their heads. In silent panic they ran all the way back to the house and alerted Olivia and Vanessa. Gaara had been out then and the Destinies, never knowing where he went, decided that things must be taken into their own hands. Thus the long winding expedition up the largest hill near Konoha and the vats of bubbling acid set between them.

The plan is all about timing; all about pouring when each and every one of the opposing team will be burned alive by that sweet liquid that is acid. And, luckily for them, that time is coming up. The minutes slowly tick on until the enemy is right at their doorstep and close to a trench.

"Pour!"

Together Vanessa and Olivia pour their large vat of acid down one trench—which branches out to other ones—while Meagan and Eunice pour our their vats. They have to make some additions to the trenches as the acid runs along which they do dutifully and quickly. But then, disaster strikes.

Meagan digs a trench too far over, accidentally connecting it with another trench and somehow managing to set the paths to the wrong course.

They are now headed straight for the village.

"Meagan you fool!" Vanessa shouts. "What. Did. You. Do!"

"I'm sorry! I accidentally let the trench go too deep!"

While Vanessa and Meagan argue back and forth for a moment, Nissi and Olivia watch the acid progress quickly down the hill and towards Konoha. The gate, however strong will not be able to hold back the storm of acid that is making its way down the hill. The only upside to their situation is that the acid is not moving all that fast.

"Guys…" Olivia risks breaking up the fight. "Maybe we should be stopping the acid…you know, before it hits the village?"

Blink, blink.

And thus the four girls start running down the hill—a very good distance away from the flowing acid—towards their home village. After numerous stumbles and trips the girls just decide to throw themselves down onto the ground and let the hill roll them along. Dizzying and nauseating, yes; but they don't really have time to be picky here.

The gate looms up above them as they come to a stop at the bottom of the hill. The gate, which they had pulled completely closed on their exit, would be too time consuming to reopen and recluse; the Destinies scramble over the top. Kakashi's house is undoubtedly closer so it is for his home they shoot after dropping softly to the other side. Vanessa is a bit wary of entering his home again, worried that he still might be ready to massacre her for the earlier incident. One week, granted, is a lot of time but…you never know with ninjas like Kakashi. You just never know.

But acid waits for no ninja.

"Kakashi! KAKASHI! OPEN THE DOOR!" Bang. Bang! Bang! Bangbangbangbangbang!

"Oi!" Kakashi slams the door open with such force that the hinges crack. "It's too early for this, do you understand?"

"But—"

"No buts! Now tell me—how does this issue of yours rate on the importance scale?"

The four shift around, stare at each other, and ponder. Finally Nissi ventures an answer, "It…depends on your views of important. But let's give it a seven."

"What have you done?" Kakashi glares at them with his visible eye.

And thus the Destinies erupt.

"We were trying to save the village from the army but **Meagan** just **had **to screw the tunnels up so now the stuff is traveling down to the village and we can't stop it—"

"It was not my fault! You're just looking for someone to blame this mess on!"

"Both of you shut up!"

While her friends argue, Nissi takes the time to relay their plan for Kakashi. By the end of it, he is fuming.

"We need you to evacuate everyone! Or at least move them to higher grounds!" Vanessa pleads, running around in frantic circles. "And hurry! HURRY FOOL!"

"Fine!" Kakashi calms himself. "Fine. You four, uh, go and try to stop the acid from coming any further."

His reply is four incredulous looks. "With what? We're not exactly the best ninjas around, you know."

"Fine. Nissi—go find Naruto. Tell him…tell him to Kage Bunshin and have the clones eat up all the acid if they have to. Vanessa **you **go and warn Tsunade-sama. And we remaining three will round up the others."

He shoots off, leaving no room for argument. Meagan goes off to find Neji, Olivia to find Gaara, and the other two to complete their designated tasks. (Not that Nissi is happy about telling Naruto to eat acid, nor does Vanessa want to warn Tsunade.) But off they go.

Hoping that Gaara will be home this is where Olivia heads. On the way she passes the early birds of Konoha looking all bright and smiley because the sun is out and it's a beautiful day. Poor fools. She shakes her head and runs faster to her house. She's in luck—Gaara is just unlocking the front door.

"Gaara!"

And with no other word or explanation the red-head is grabbed by the arm and nearly dragged off to the gate where Meagan, Neji, Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Nissi, Hinata, and Kakashi wait. A moment later, Vanessa joins them with Tsunade-sama.

"I'm **not **eating this acid!" Naruto hisses at Nissi. "Oba-san! Tell her I won't eat it."

"Eat it," Tsunade examines her nails.

Naruto explodes. "Are you crazy, Old Lady?"

Twitch. "What did you call me?"

"Old Lady!"

"Brat!"

"While this is very interesting," Neji drawls, "both the army and the acid are drawing closer."

"Just think of this as an act for the village, Naruto," the Destinies urge. "It's one step closer to becoming the Hokage!"

Naruto freezes in the act of shoving the girls into the ground as a look of realization crosses his face. If it had been possible, a light-bulb would have lit up over his head. He takes a look at the acid rolling along the hill, then up at the Hokage statue. Then back at the acid. A sort of gloom settles over him as he realizes what he's about to do, but becoming Hokage is more important. With a poof, 100 or so duplicate Naruto run up the hill and try slurping up the acid. They disappear immediately.

"This is no good," Tsunade frowns. "He'll waste all his chakra before he's even half done with that mess. No, we need something else."

"Anyway of throwing it onto the enemy?" Gaara looks rather bored with the ongoing problems, probably because he is invincible anyways.

"Unless one of these four have a secret technique like that," Tsunade points at the Destinies, "I don't think that's going to happen."

"I **do** have a technique like that!" Vanessa says suddenly, catching everyone off guard.

"What!"

It is silent for a moment until—"Guys, let's walk over here for a bit."—Nissi, Olivia, and Meagan turn and walk a bit away, continuing to contemplate a solution to their problem.

Vanessa stands smiling like an idiot for a moment before waving her hand before her in a dismissing sort of way, "Okay, I lied."

Not unexpectedly, Tsunade and a few others pummel her into the ground. Her friends look on with sympathy. _'Ouch. That must hurt.' _After fifteen or so minutes of wasted time the acid is about 100 feet away and getting closer.

"Maybe we should just draw the army here!" Sasuke snapped, warily eyeing the acid.

"Ooh, that's a great idea, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura praises.

"Hah! Leave it to me!" Naruto grins. "I'm great at antagonizing."

"Send these two with him," Nissi points to Vanessa and Meagan. "They're as annoying as they come."

"And as thickheaded," Olivia adds.

"Hey!"

"You cannot deny the truth," Olivia says, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "So accept it and fix this mistake."

"…Fine."

While Meagan and Vanessa set themselves up as bait Olivia and Nissi work on sending the acid back in the right direction by digging – very furiously – a bit of a trench that works its way across the land at the bottom of the hill. The others, meanwhile, are evacuating the city. But that has left a bit of a problem. Where to put them, the innocent children and adults? Outside the city is the waiting army, coiled and prepared to pounce. At the same time the city is unsafe, as it lies in the path of the oncoming acid. In the end though they choose to set them all (my goodness, would they fit?) on top of the statue of the Hokage's and hope the problem will be solved before everyone is brutally liquidated in the acid.

Meanwhile…

"Aaaah!"

Vanessa and Meagan come crashing through the trees, apparently running for their life. The entire army was chasing them, which is sort of what they had set out to accomplish but at the same time not. Nissi and Olivia – they know – are working fast on the trenches and they really should drag the army around to where the acid is going to be leading but… Well, when a thousand ninjas are chasing you, you have to take the path you're given. And they had been given the path **away **from the village.

…It was that or death, really.

"Aaaah!"

Over the dangling branches of trees they go, then up to the tallest ones. The army is not at all falling behind, much to their distress.

"If I get out of this alive I'm going to kill them."

"Kill who?" Meagan panted, skirting a large bunch of leaves that threatened to slow her down and send her quicker to her doom.

"All of them!"

'_But why…?' _The seething look on Vanessa's face tells Meagan that she should just keep her mouth shut and keep dodging leaves. Stills skirting the tops of the trees, they see Konoha getting a bit further away with each second and are determined to bring the game around. Cutting sharply to the right they throw the army for a loop as they disappear into the trees. Immediately the skilled army follows them, spotting them easily again on account of Vanessa's hair.

In the front of the massive group a black-clad ninja watches the girl's intently. "Novice ninja," he hisses to his companions. "Easy prey. Look – they are slowing down!"

And indeed the girls are. The ninja sends some of his men forward to cut the girls off from the Konoha gates, causing them to instead veer to the left again and head further into the trees. Their breathing becomes more pronounced and just a moment later the two fall to the ground in exhaustion. Now it is simply a matter of death.

-0-

"Where are they?" Nissi paces the ground, intently watching the acid as it reaches their trench. Slowly it pools over a little bit, then recedes.

Olivia prods at it with a stick, melting it. "The trees are rustling over there. Maybe…"

Sudden screams cut them off. They pale; it doesn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"Oh my gosh!" the girls panic, both running around each other in circles. "Oh my gosh we just sent them off to die! What were we thinking?"

Kakashi appeares before them suddenly, face grim. "Keep going."

"Are you crazy – we have to go find our friends."

"You four started this. End it. Now," he stands tall, "the army is coming. You have your plan well thought out, no?"

"Not really," Nissi mutters. "We're just hoping that the simplicity of it will catch them off guard."

"Simple indeed. Well, I'll lure them forward. Do what you have to do," Kakashi claps them on the back before shooting off.

Suddenly, from down the hill shoot two blond blurs. Vanessa and Meagan, who had kage-bunshined at the last second, had slipped away in safety. They are now heading towards their friends at top speed – or, more precisely, to the area right in front of them. If they don't stop…let's just say it will be painful for them.

"Stop, stop!" Olivia shouts at them, waving her arms.

"You fools!" Nissi shrieks, grabbing at her hair.

Suddenly the army is upon them, a mass of black and blue hurtling towards them – Kakashi jumps out of the way just moments before reaching the designated area for the girls' plan. Vanessa and Meagan – just seeming to understand the frantic hand gestures and shouts – try to steer themselves away. Alas it is no use; they've built up too much speed and now their feet are taking them where they will.

"STOP!" Nissi and Olivia give one last shout before turning to face the mass army.

But they don't need to. For abruptly the men disappear before their very eyes, falling into…a pit. Not a very big pit, mind, but full of enough acid to liquidate any being fool enough to fall in faster than one can say 'cheese monkey.' The two blonds, after seeing what happened, are putting the brakes on with so much force that time seems to stop for a moment and a sickening 'crunch' is heard from both of the girls.

They've broken their legs.

Like rag dolls they crumble, stopping just two inches short of the acid pool. Blood pours from the wounds, trailing slowly down into the pit and mixing with the remains of the once-feared army. They collapse from pain; Olivia and Nissi collapse from worry and fear. Kakashi shoots off at once for Tsunade-sama.

Two minutes later the four are floating on a thick sheet of sand – provided sweetly by Gaara – towards the Hokage building. If they were completely conscious, they would have heard the happy cries of the villagers as they realized they were saved. Vanessa and Meagan stay with Tsunade while Sasuke and Gaara carry the other two to one of the many free rooms of the building. Iruka is on guard duty, it appears, and so Olivia and Nissi are left in good care. For each of the girls, only the soft whisperings of their surroundings were being received by their battered brains. Soon though, they gave up and let sweet sleep embrace them. At least for the time being.

-0-

"It's all fine," Tsunade sighs, massaging her temples. "Vanessa and Meagan will be fine, as will the other two."

Kakashi, Iruka, Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara are leaning against various parts of the wall, looking relieved. A soft smile finds its way onto Naruto's face as he ponders the day's happenings.

"Ne, those four were really something," he declares excitedly, "using barely any ninja skills they managed to massacre an entire army!"

"They have your stupid streak, to be sure," Sasuke sneers. "Though I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Why you…!"

"Would both of you please!" Gaara hisses, eyes glowing a scary red. Both boys abate their fighting immediately.

"I think it's time they advanced to more grueling studies," Tsunade muses, finding her way to her chair. "After they completely master the basics, that is."

Kakashi raises an eyebrow in question. He wonders if Tsunade views them as capable of his training – are there any ever truly ready for it? – but decides that the Hokage's word is law, and it's not his place to question. Outside the sun is going down rather quickly. Back to their homes they went; back to their homes everyone went. It is unusually quiet. Perhaps the village has just grown accustomed to the noise that seems to follow the Destinies everywhere they wander? Or maybe they have – despite their denies of it – simply grown to love the four that manage to work their way into anyone's heart. (Be it through kindness or psycho-crazy threats.)

Either way, they cannot wait for the girls to recover and bring back the usual craziness of before.

**

* * *

:sniff: I finally finished it. There. I'm done. Are you guys quite satisfied now? Seven pages – it took me forever to write and it still didn't come out the way I wanted it to. But next chapter, I think, will be even longer. And I promise to update faster. If I do not fulfill this promise, may all the ramen bowls be dumped on my binder. I'm going to bed now. See you guys tomorrow, of course.**


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six, since I've practically been threatened at gunpoint. –shiver– Nissi is a bit scary when it comes to me updating. Yup. ; **

**Disclaimer : I own not. Same as a-l-w-a-y-s. **

**

* * *

Chapter Six**

The girls awaken the next morning in separate rooms, all feeling very drowsy and very weak. The girls take that as a sign that they are not ready to wake up and fall back asleep, dreaming of cheese and scones and weird islands. Meagan wakes then, ready to check on her friends conditions. But she finds herself very…unable to move. Trying to sit up, she panics when she can't. It's as if some invisible person is sitting – if not lying – on top of her, preventing movement. Straining she pushes against her unknown captor hoping to break free.

No luck.

"Aaah!" Meagan's happy that her voice at least is working. "What's going on!"

"Mou, stop yelling," Olivia plops down on the edge of Meagan's bed suddenly.

"I can't move!"

"Tsunade-sama used some sort of jutsu on us."

"She doesn't trust us anymore," Nissi laments, appearing in the doorway. "She's still not letting Vanessa up."

The 'clack' of shoes alerts the three to the presence of Tsunade. She enters – attendant at her side – and smiles sweetly at the girls; they quiver at the sweetness of it. Naruto follows in behind, his usual orange jumper replaced with a regular black tee and a pair of shorts. He gives them the usual drop-dead-so-kawaii smile, waves, and settles down on the floor.

"Now you know what you girls did was wrong," Tsunade chastises furiously; the girls flinch. "Oh, Vanessa got a scolding way worse than this.

"The villagers were put in indescribable danger. This will never happen again."

The girls gulp and nod – well, save Meagan.

"Good," Tsunade taps Meagan, who springs up immediately.

"Free!"

Sunlight pours through the window, a bright and beautiful day before them. A wild dash for their window do the three make, only to be dragged back by Naruto and Tsunade.

"No you don't!" Tsunade pulls Meagan back by her waist. "You're stuck here until Vanessa is off her punishment!"

"But why?"

"Because you helped!"

A good hour or so later, Tsunade released the girls. Sakura was waiting for the girls outside the hospital.

"Iruka-sensei wants to see you – "

Cue moans and groans from the Destinies.

" – at seven o'clock tomorrow."

Relief. The girls nod their consent and shoot off to enjoy the day. Everyone they see greets them and showers them with gifts. Candy, books, and masses of other things that require the four to make a quick stop at their house. Struggling with the doorknob for a moment the four finally kick it down. Gaara, sitting on the couch and looking peeved, relieves them of their burdens with a glaring face.

"You could have knocked," he hisses.

"And you could have used your super ninja senses and opened the door for us," Vanessa retorts, massaging her arms.

"Hn."

"Well, we're off to enjoy the day. Bye!"

-0-

The next morning the four are so wiped that they feel they would rather face Gaara's wrath than go train with Iruka. Gaara prods them awake, much to their displeasure. He of course never sleeps, and thus is always ready to inflict such pain on the girls. They pity him, he who has never felt the beauty of sleep.

"Gaara," Olivia moans, pulling the covers up above her head. "Go. Away."

"Up. Now."

"NEVER!"

Whump. Without thinking, Olivia whaps Gaara with her pillow. And then she freezes. Gaara stands before her, an amused expression on his face. Olivia guesses no one's ever been stupid enough to toss a pillow at his face. She pales.

"Alright I'm up!" she jumps up and pushes him out. "I'm up!"

Twenty minutes later the girls are standing before Iruka-sensei, stars still in their eyes. Iruka douses them with cold water. They are awake now.

"You're going to run until your legs give out."

The Destinies stare at him blankly, non-comprehending until he again raises the hose.

"Ah, hai!"

And off the girls run. They have no idea why Iruka-sensei wants them to run like maniacs – they've never had anyone demand such a thing of them – but who are they to question? Three hundred laps around the school yard later the girls are feeling a bit queasy. One by one they begin to slow down, until they're all spread out.

Unbeknownst to them – so deep in pain they are – Kakashi is watching them from a nearby tree. The silver haired Jounin is greatly amused. He wonders why he never thought of making his charges run like that.

"Probably because Sasuke and Naruto would try to beat each other and end up stopping their hearts," a voice whispers in his ear.

For most people it is rare to catch Sharingan Kakashi off guard, but Iruka seems to have a knack for it. Kakashi looks up to see Iruka hanging upside down from a branch directly above his own. He raises his hand and gives his customary 'yo.'

"What are you doing here?" Iruka queries.

"Observing," the Jounin replies with a grin. "I must say that they have more stamina than I first thought."

"They are something special. Naruto loves them."

"He would."

Steadily the minutes tick on and the girls reach – by Kakashi's count – six hundred and fifty nine laps. The two nin commence to play janken until the 'oomph' of the girls as they fall alert them. Sprawled out on the sandy lawn the girls lie panting. They wearily open their eyes as shadows fall over them.

"Up," Iruka douses them a bit with the hose. "You're going to fight."

"You're joking…?" Olivia swears.

"Nope," Kakashi grins down at them. "You're going to fight Sasuke-chan!"

"Don't call me 'chan,'" Sasuke hisses, entering.

"We can't fight!" the Destinies protest. "We're drained!"

"Then you'll suffer."

Commence the fighting. Sasuke doesn't give them a moment before he's up and attacking them. Even with the four of them, the Destinies are no match for the crazed and purpose driven being that is Sasuke. They can't even move as they are. Too drained, too tired. Sasuke lands a solid punch to Meagan's jaw.

"Crap, Sasuke!" Vanessa sticks out her foot and trips him. "Haha! Dogpile on Sasuke!"

"Rah!" the Destinies jump. Unfortunately Sasuke has collected himself by that time and the girls simply hit the ground, one on top of the other. Sasuke blinks at their stupidity, glances as Kakashi, then walks off. They are clearly not ready for fighting.

"We have a ways to go…" Iruka rubs the back of his head. "Alright, go home and rest up."

"You're not going to heal us?" the girls demand.

"Nope," Kakashi flashes them a peace sign. "Pain is good for you." And with a poof he and Iruka are gone.

"Damn them."

Instead of going home the girls immediately head for the bath houses. They're dirty and sweaty – not something that sits too well with any of them. They make sure that no perverted hermits are around to scope them out and then slip into an isolated bathing area near the corner. The warm water feels nice against their bruised skin, the smell of soap much better than the smell of sweat. And with no perverted hermits around to watch them, everything is perfect. Around noon though they are almost burning to death so the four regretfully climb out of the baths, dress, and go home.

After a light doze on the couches and several monster-sized sandwiches later, the girls were refreshed and ready to enjoy the rest of their day in peace. Not happening, of course. There is an urgent knock on their door, followed by scuffling sounds and angry shouts.

"Hey what's going on?"

The Destinies lean forward in the chairs upon which they are sitting. The commotion is getting louder. It's so annoying – the Destinies are just sitting and listening to it, mind – that in some minutes Gaara appears from his room and stomps out to open the door, revealing Naruto and Iruka struggling on the ground.

"Naruto you will be watched!" Iruka struggles against the blonde's grip. "Vanessa!"

"Yeah?"

"You're on watch duty," Iruka pulls her forward and cuffs her to Naruto, much to the boy's displeasure. He pouts and allows Iruka to drag him – and Vanessa – to the school.

"Bye 'Nessa!" her friends wave.

Vanessa is bewildered; she has no idea what is going on. All she knows is that she is handcuffed to Naruto. End of story, no more. Iruka takes them to his classroom and locks them in, giving Vanessa explicit instructions not to let Naruto out of her sight.

"Consider it your first mission," he says before shutting the door.

"What did you do?" Vanessa asks as Naruto frees them from the handcuffs.

"Nothing much. Wanna go vandalize?"

"…Sure."

And off they go.

-0-

"Sasuke, you and Nissi are going to go around and clean up our customers houses. People are being destructive again…" Kakashi informs. "Spray paint. Easily removable."

Nissi gives him a look as he hands her a bucket and sponge. Sasuke is all-out glaring. Kakashi laughs, waves, and disappears in a puff of smoke. Turning, the pair faces their first mission – Sasuke's house. Nissi has to stifle a laugh at the irony of it. Poor Sasuke had been out for only five minutes and someone had completely vandalized his house.

"Um," Nissi sweatdrops as Sasuke jumps onto the roof, leaving her behind. "What am I supposed to do?"

"If you can't jump up then clean the bottom."

"Hmph."

Nissi sticks her tongue out at Sasuke's back. _'Meanie.' _Dipping her sponge into the sudsy bucket she begins to clean.

Three hours later they are on the last house and are completely fed up with cleaning. Nissi stares at her sponge, mentally wishing for it to implode. Sasuke scrubs so hard he's starting to take off natural paint. When he is done with the top, Nissi is no where near close to finishing the bottom. He near explodes.

"You are so slow," he hisses. "You're wasting my time!"

Nissi bristles, "Excuse me that we can't all be perfect! You don't have to be so rude! Just because you were the best ninja of your year doesn't mean you're a good person."

He turns away.

"I bet," she continues, "that someone who loved you wouldn't want you to be so…mad at the world!"

She throws her sponge down and stalks off. Sasuke blinks as the statement hits home. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. He loses his temper easily, this he knows, but to lose it at Nissi… A shuffling in the trees alerts him to where she has settled and he decides to give her time to cool off. Goodness knows she gets a bit verbal when she's angry. In the meantime, he'll finish off their last house so they can finally take a break.

Taking up the sponge, he's surprised to see that even though Nissi was no where near finished, her work was better than his own. He had been scrubbing too hard, taking away the normal paint. Nissi had patiently scrubbed bit by bit, leaving the spot clean and un-vandalized. He scowls. He hates being wrong. Sometime later when he is finished, he goes to find his partner.

While the prospect of apologizing to anyone makes him queasy, he knows he has to do it.

"Hey…" he comes up behind Nissi and places a hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry."

Nissi sticks her tongue out at him, then laughs. "It's okay. I got a bit mad too. But let's go find these trouble makers – I think I know where they're going next."

-0-

"Now pour on the oil!" Naruto shouts, fists pumping the air; Vanessa eagerly obliges.

Lighting the match he holds, Naruto laughs madly – horribly, awfully, crazily – before tossing it at the Hokage monument. The blonds cackle madly as the monument burns slowly behind them.

"…Wait…" Vanessa stops and thinks.

Her hazel eyes lock with Naruto's blue ones before they scream.

"Naruto look what you did!"

"Hey, you helped!"

"Aah!"

You get the idea.

-0-

"Hm…I was so sure they'd strike here next," Nissi turns to Sasuke. She stands outside her house with her partner. While they were gone it seemed Olivia and Meagan had invited people over. Neji and Lee were visiting, as well as Sakura and Hinata. Kakashi had even shown up.

Sasuke shrugged. If people weren't vandalizing, he was happy. _'Maybe we can rest now.' _Unfortunately at that moment the Hokage monument burst aflame in the distance.

"Holy crap!" someone shouts; everyone jumps up.

Sasuke growls, "That has Naruto written all over it."

Olivia rubs her temples, "Vanessa too, unfortunately. Wasn't she supposed to watch Naruto?"

"Yup."

"Those two, I swear…"

Everyone runs for the monument.

-0-

Unbeknownst to Naruto and Vanessa they are running straight for the others, who are also running towards them. They ran around the backside of the Hokage monument and were just about to begin another bout of arguing when _whump! _Naruto slips on a rock and drags Vanessa and himself down the side of the mountain.

"Naaaarrrruuuttooo!" Vanessa shrieks, as the rocks swirl around them furiously.

-0-

"Well, they have to be around here somewhere…"

The group looks around in vain, unable to find their friends. That it until they hear the rumbling behind them.

"Uh, guys…" Nissi taps their shoulders. They turn and see the huge cloud thing of dust and rocks and – oh yes, the unmistakable blond hair – coming towards them. "I found them."

"Oh. My. Gosh."

"Aaah!"

Needless to say the group runs away. As the cloud comes towards them faster than they can run, their fear and panic increases. Only the wonders of Lee's amazing speed and strength as he lifted them all up in the air saved them. Unfortunately they can't save Vanessa and Naruto.

No, the two blonds continue crashing forward until they are stopped by a tree. A sickening crunch reverberates through all of Konoha as Vanessa and Naruto are stopped. From behind their own tree the others watch as the rocks go flying, the clouds settle, and they see Vanessa and Naruto lying in the most uncomfortable looking position ever. Vanessa gives a loud, horrible moan, clutching at her arm.

"I…I think I broke it," her face is ashen.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Naruto gasps. "I broke my legs."

"Both of them?" Kakashi comes out from his hiding place.

"Both of them," Naruto gasps again. "Aah…"

Kakashi sighs and looks up at the Hokage monument. Luckily the previous Hokage's were smart enough to anticipate the arrival of those as stupid as Naruto and Vanessa and had made the monument of near indestructible material. A little fire couldn't hurt it, thankfully. Instructing everyone to go home and not come back out for the rest of the day, Kakashi places his hands on the blonde's and they poof out of view.

Everyone goes home, and the Destinies eventually bug Gaara into flying them home on his sand.

-0-

The next day, after Tsunade-sama had healed the two, Naruto and Vanessa are out clearing spray paint off the Hokage monument. They had worked through the burns earlier in the day and now only the random splotches of color are left. From sunup they have been working and they will – if all proceeds smoothly – work until sundown. Luckily for them, it's starting to rain.

Naruto looks at his partner, "Wanna go home?"

"…Sure."

Ten minutes later…

"What are you two doing here?" Kakashi asks sternly.

"We came in. It's starting to rain."

"You're supposed to be out there."

"In the rain?"

"Yes," Kakashi retorts. "In the rain. You're on probation from going anywhere for the next week."

Vanessa rounds on Naruto, "Look what you did!"

"What the hell? You came with me."

"Ask anyone here!" she waves her arms wildly. "They'll tell you how idiotic I am! How I

follow anything or anyone! Ask!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Oh yeah? Fine. You're on probation for ramen until I say so."

"You can't do that!"

"I JUST DID!"

**

* * *

Haha, Vanessa is a baka. xD Wow this chapter was long! I seem to write really ****long chapters for Naruto. Really long. Okay, I'm done. Now let's see if this will ****update for me, after the seventeenth time trying. Ja!**


	7. Chapter Seven

**HELLO EVERYONE! Vanessa here! I have to post this for Olivia because her crap computor has officially died. oh well! Oh! Just so you all know, I typed this up just how she wrote...so if there is anything wrong with it, blame her.**

**DISCLAIMER: I dun own!**

* * *

"I'd love to help you, Naruto, but I can't have Vanessa focused on me," Olivia slurps up a forkful of ramen. "But why don't you just, you know, **EAT **it?"

"I've tried," Naruto whispers fearfully. "But she always busts me."

"Ouch. Tough luck." Slurp, slurp

Naruto's eyes begin to water, but he knows better than to try anything. The two can practically feel Vanessa's burning glare on them, though they have no idea where she is. _Everyone is a bit isolated today_, Olivia thinks. She repeats her thought aloud.

"Well…Nissi is with Sasuke-baka, and Vanessa is probably stalking me. I dunno where Meagan is."

"She disappeared pretty early, but she'll be okay."

-8 hours later-

"Stupid rain…"

Meagan shields her eyes from the pouring rain with one hand and whacks the endless foliage with the other. She's beaten and bruised from fighting through the insane amount of foliage Konoha is cursed with; it wasn't even that bad until it began to rain. So think it is - and having no sun to guide her makes it worse – that she is very, very lost.

"There's no point of me sitting in one place; I'll freeze to death!" she sputtered, taking another blind step forward. Her teeth chattered; a sudden light blinds her. _What the…_! Another step forward, Meagan finds herself tumbling down a sort of hill, which gives the trees more chances to scratch her up. By the tome she manages to stretch out her arms to catch something, she is a bloody mess. Her arms circle a small tree trunk and one takes the moment to breathe.

"I curse you, stupid trees!" she raises a fist in anger.

The clouds suddenly move out of the path of the moon, allowing its light to shine down for Meagan. Even with the light, though, she has no idea where she is. She doubts she's ever been so far in the woods before. _And it doesn't look like there's a path anywhere…_

"But I'd better keep going, while there's light."

She moves gingerly down the rest of the hill, stumbling when she reaches level ground. The very peak of a house becomes visible as she continues walking. A very large house, by the look of it. Meagan – as soon as her legs regain enough strength – runs for it. The rain has completely soaked through her clothes; it still shows no signs of stopping.

"I'm going to freeze to death!" she wails. "Where's that stupid – OOMPH!"

She is cut off mid-sentence as she runs into the side wall of the house. _I'm saved_! She feels along the wall until her fingers grasp the thin metal of a front gate. Pushing it open just enough, Meagan slips through and bolts for the front door; she pounds against the door frantically and is unprepared to see who opens it.

"N-Neji? What are **you **doing here?"

Blink, blink "I live here."

"No you don't."

"…yes, I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do – go check the front gate."

Neji turns and points. Groaning, Meagan turns and runs back out to the gate, reads it, and runs back.

"Okay, you were right. Can I come in?"

Neji sighs and steps away, allowing Meagan to come in. She stands in the doorway as Neji rummages through his closets for towels and warm clothes, then follows him to the bathroom and changes. Neji, meanwhile, is in the kitchen making soup for her.

"Ah, I feel much better," she enters the kitchen, toweling her hair dry. "Thanks for letting me in."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Where's Hinata?"

Neji gives Meagan a weird look. "Hinata lives in the main house."

"Oh, that's right! Sorry," She says. Neji gets up to leave.

"HEY! Don't leave me!"

"…I need to sleep."

"No, no! Stay and talk to me!"

Sighing, Neji plops down into a choir as Meagan slurps her soup. Soon they have a stable conversation going. It lasts long into the night until Meagan suddenly pauses mid-sentence and falls asleep. Neji was asleep seconds later.

-o-o-o-

"MEAGAN! MEG!"

It is morning and the destinies are out searching for their friends. They had spent a good two hours searching the forests and are now off searching the houses. They check everyone they don't know first, and then move onto everyone they do know. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi – no one knew where she was.

"Uh….please don't forget to check Neji-nee-san's house," Hinata offers after the second time round.

"Neji! Where does he live?"

Hinata gives them directions and off the Destinies shoot. When they get there, no one answers the door but that is no problem for the Destinies. They quickly break it down.

"MEG! Mea—"

Seeing Meagan all wrapped up in warm blankets when they've been searching for the better part of three hours sends the Destinies into spasms. They jump Meagan, tickling her awake and begin yelling random Destiny drabble.

"But at least you're okay…" they end.

After eating a delicious breakfast – prepared by Neji – Meagan tells about her night. Just as she finishes, who should run in but Naruto, yelling something about Tsunade wanting to see them. So the girls thank Neji for the food and leave, wondering what Tsunade could possible want.

"Girls, we're going to try you out on a mission," Tsunade smiles at the girls, placing down her sake cup.

"Cool," Vanessa plops herself into a chair. "Where do we start?"

Tsunade regards the girls for a moment, probably thinking of the right words to say. She glances at Naruto, then back at thee girls, and then at her sake cup.

"Well, I've met with the other jounin and we decided to start you off on a chuunin mission, just to see how you do."

"**WHAT!**" Naruto explodes. "I practically had to BEG on my KNEES for the third to give me harder missions! What makes them so special?"

A vein pops on Tsunade's temple. She clenches her fists and closes her eyes, probably trying to picture something calming. Olivia hurriedly moves forward and pours the fifth some more sake.

"Tsunade-sama…"

Tsunade cracks open an eye, accepting the cup with a smile, "Thank you."

She downs the sake and silences Naruto's further attempts to speak with a death glare. She goes on to explain the details of the mission.

"It's pretty simple, actually, and you will be tailed by Kakashi, just in case you run into….difficulties."

Kakashi poofs in suddenly, waving at the girls. Naruto is definitely fuming now, clenching his fists. The girls understand Naruto's anger – all the stupid missions he was forced through before receiving a decent one. They laugh as they remember one of their favorite ones.

"Remember the one with the cat?" they choke back as much of their laughter as they can

"Where he caught it and it…."

"Jumped on his head?"

The four howl, holding each other's shoulders for support. Naruto's face burns as even Kakashi breaks out grinning at the memory. Tsunade clears her throat and points to Naruto. He is suddenly glomped within an inch of death as they girls shout out their apologies. Naruto's face goes purple within the seconds.

"You're….crushing….me," he sputters.

"We're so sorry!" The destinies wail.

"Enough," Tsunade downs another sake cup. "Kakashi, finish filling them in outside."

Nodding, Kakashi grabs his charges and poofs out of the building, leaving Tsunade with her sake. He is still sporting a ridiculous grin as he explains the mission for a while.

"So….it's an escort mission?" Meagan asks.

"Sort-of. We don't really want you in plain view of the charge. Not all of you, at least," Kakashi explains. "We want to know who's stalking him."

"Got it!"

"Meet at the bridge and remember, I'm watching from the shadows."

And with another poof, he is gone.

-o-o-o-

"This is a beautiful reason not to practice," Vanessa crows.

"Though we could use the extra practice…" Nissi comments.

The girls wander through Konoha with Yakitori sticks in their hands, munching happily. Naruto had left them to blow off steam – probably to entice Sasuke into fighting him- and they hadn't ran into anyone interesting since then. Eventually they end up back at the house, where Gaara is eating lunch.

"We have a mission, Gaara!" Olivia and Meagan bound over to him, all smiles.

"Chuunin level!"

Gaara eyes the two, "Chuunin level?"

"Yeah!"

"Well that's…good." _What are those fools thinking?_ he sighs and turns back to his lunch.

-o-o-o-

"Okay, where is this guy?" Nissi scowls after an hour of waiting. "He's pulling a Kakashi!"

The girls have been waiting on the bridge for their charge to show and for an hour he has eluded them. The destinies are slowly becoming angry at the fact that he's no showing, and they can't go look for him. They've resigned to sitting down and swinging their legs above the water. Another hour passes, then another, and then one more. Just as the girls are ready to blow off the mission, a young boy dressed in white runs up to them looking very flustered.

"Why doesn't he just hang a 'kill me' sign above his head?" Meagan whispers to Olivia.

"In neon," Olivia whispers back, nodding.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" the boy skids to a halt in front of them. "I overslept!"

Nissi plasters on a smile, "that's okay. Where are we taking you?"

"Out into the woods to meet some of my villagers."

"Lets' go then."

Pushing past the fact that their mission didn't start off nearly as smoothly as they would have liked, they lead their charge – "my name's Haku, by the way" – across the bridge and out the front gates.

It is a beautiful day; the girls would have sprinted off to wreak havoc immediately on better circumstances, but their duties leave them no time for play. Following Kakashi's words they split up: Meagan and Nissi are left to guard Haku while Olivia and Vanessa follow behind, hiding themselves in the tree leaves.

Haku seems to think nothing of the thought that his life is in danger; he strolls down the path, flanked by Meagan and Nissi, whistling one happy tune after another. Vanessa resists the urge to nail him with rocks; quite sure it would give away their position.

All day long, the four peel their eyes for enemy ninja. All day long, the four see nothing but birds and bees and lots of trees. By noon – when they stop for lunch – Olivia and Vanessa are sore from staying up in the trees and Meagan and Nissi are tired of the monotonous path. All four are tired of the silence, broken only by Haku's occasional whistling.

They move on after lunch, wondering where Kakashi is hiding. _He can't be that far behind_, Meagan muses, kicking a rock down the path. Suddenly a shower of Kunais fall upon the three, piercing them faster than they can react. Swiftly Meagan and Nissi arm themselves, ready for the next batch. But it never comes; instead, the enemy swoops down and snatches up Haku, quickly escaping.

"H-hey!"

Olivia and Vanessa are on the ground now, running as fast as they can after the mysterious enemy. They flash of Haku's white shirt keeps them on the right track as the mad dash through the trees continues. Occasionally, the girls glimpse the path; their only maker that they're still in Konoha-gakure territory. They must stay near the path.

"Kakashi! Where are you!" Vanessa shouts, speeding up a bit. "We've run into to some difficulties!"

Just as their legs are about to give out, Haku comes running back to them with a cut lip. He gives them a shaky smile.

"Punched him in the groin," he laughs.

"I'll go get him," Vanessa volunteers, running off. Nissi follows behind to help.

While they are gone, Olivia takes a cloth from her Kunai pouch and wipes Haku's lip, completely unprepared to have him poof into their mysterious enemy, twist her around, and hold a kunai at her throat.

"Olivia!"

"Ack! Now, now, Meg. We just have to remember to SING!" Olivia gasps. "Solarplexes, in-step, nose…GROIN!"

And as she sings, she whacks/ steps on each specific point. The last one results in her assailant doubling over in pain, giving her a chance to get away.

"Always wanted to do that."

It is at this particular moment that Vanessa and Nissi come running back into view with the Haku in tow.

"Guys! It's not Haku…oh." They see the enemy on the ground.

"Yeah, you're a bit late."

The four grin, happy to have won the battle. But just as they are prepared to finish the enemy when they suddenly feel very sleepy and as they slip into unconsciousness, their only thought is that someone up there must hat they very much indeed.

-o-o-o-

"Urgh…what….happened?"

The destinies stir and sit up as consciousness slowly reaches them again. They seem to be in the Konoha hospital – again – and all their friends seem to be crowded into their room.

"Feeling okay?" Tsunade questions.

"Uh, yeah."

"Good. We had to get you out of there or who knows what you would've done to poor Kiba."

"K-kiba…?"

Suddenly the others think it the perfect time to leave and soon only Kakashi and Tsunade left. The Destinies glare suspiciously at the two.

"Well…okay, I admit. The mission was a fake."

"WHAT!"

"We did it to test you –"

"I don't believe this!"

" – And you did pretty well."

"Tsunade-sama, how could you?"

"Haku is a boy from the academy, and Kiba played the enemy. Shino used his bugs to set you sleepy."

She gets up and pats each girl on the head, then stands near the door. By this time the girls are fit to burst. Kakashi congratulates them on doing so well before disappearing and Tsunade turns to exit also.

"Oh – you can't move, by the way.

And the girls find it true. Stuck in uncomfortable positions they can only shout at the top of their lungs that it will be an explosive moment indeed when they are set free, and that there will be hell to pay for their trick. And then they quiet down, leaving the entire city wondering what they are going to do for revenge.

Fin

* * *

**I hoped that you all enjoyed this! Please comment and say what you think!**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Under threat of Gure, I write this next chapter. -quivers as she holds the gun to my head-**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything.**

**Chapter 08**

If Naruto held any grudge against Vanessa for depriving him of his ramen – and deprive him of it she did – he didn't show it. After the three day ban was lifted (it being only three days because Naruto didn't look well at all after the second day passed) the two were once again making mischief around Konoha. They had succeeded at washing off all the burn marks and stray spray paint off of the Hokage monument and within the next week they had washed paint off of nearly every building in Konoha. The blonds were as thick as thieves.

In a strange, twisted sort of way, Konoha had to be grateful for their mischief. They never had so many minor missions loaded onto them as they had that week. Even amazing Jounins like Kakashi were on their hands and knees pulling up bright, fluorescent weeds and planting new plants. And as hard as the Destinies tried, they just couldn't stop the blonds. Not that they wanted to. They loved when they were given missions to complete. Made them feel useful. Of course, they could have done just as much damage to Konoha even without Vanessa but decided the poor city needed a break. After all, who could forget the acid accident?

But they must have done something right, since Tsunade sent them on that…mission. That fake mission. Oh, the girls twitch at the mere thought of it. Poor Kiba… They really would have gone all out if they hadn't been stopped. Olivia hopes he doesn't hold anything against them…

"Nissi, watch your back," Meagan warns as she spreads fertilizer all over the patch of land the three are working on. "I just saw two blond blurs in the distance."

"Got it."

The three are weeding out the aforementioned fluorescent weeds and planting new flowers in their stead. They know that this would most likely be one of Vanessa's pranks – she's not particularly fond of flowers, what with her allergies, and revenge is always on her mind. Still, it was a shame to see so many pretty gardens trashed by Konoha's two best idiots. (And I say that with love, Gure.)

"Tsunade should just do something about those two," Olivia mutters, running her sweaty hands over her ninja shorts. It's a very hot, humid day.

"They'll run out of steam eventually," Nissi turns and glances back in the direction where Meagan saw the blurs. "Maybe. Hopefully."

"And until then the responsibility of replanting every garden falls to the ones who had nothing to do with it. Very typical."

"At least we're getting stronger."

The three friends can't help but smile at each other. Iruka-sensei praises them daily, telling them how strong they are getting. It makes them glad to hear it, too. The Destinies hope that they will move up to harder missions – as much as they love working outside in the gardens, its getting very tedious. Before that though, they have to continue developing their skills. Iruka-sensei hopes to find people to spar with them on a daily basis. He was thinking of Shikamaru, but the girls had quickly cut that thought short. Shikamaru would never agree to train them. It would be "too troublesome."

Just as Meagan finishes spreading around the fertilizer, and Olivia and Nissi finish planting the last lovely flower – hoping that they won't have to come back any time soon and do this all over again – they hear a high pitched bark and are attacked by none other than Akamaru. He pounces on Olivia, leaving muddy paw prints all over her skin and clothes, then proceeds to Meagan and Nissi. And they had managed to stay so clean up until that point!

"So you're stuck with garden duty, huh?"

"Hey, Kiba. This your house?"

No one had been home when the Destinies arrived, but they were expected so they just sat down and went to work. Akamaru turns a few random circles and runs back to Kiba, who picks him up and sets him on his head. He's going around in normal clothes, and not his usual ninja outfit. They can understand why – three minutes in this heat and he would have died.

"Yup. Hey, the garden looks great," he grins at the girls; they are very proud. "I just got back from swimming, though you wouldn't know it."

That's true – he is completely dry.

"Stay here and I'll bring you guys some sodas."

Twenty minutes and three sodas each later, they have convinced Kiba that he is just the person they need to spar with them, and have made plans for him to go see Iruka-sensei with them the next day. When it is time for them to leave, Kiba pays them and they head off immediately for the school to hand the money in. Vanessa meets them at the doors, grinning insanely.

"What happened to you guys?"

"Akamaru pounced on us," Olivia informs. "Where have you been? Besides wreaking havoc, that is."

Vanessa shrugs, "After a dip in a spring Naruto wanted ramen. So I left him to meet you guys."

"Uh-huh. Well, we've got to go turn this money in. Then we'll go do stuff."

Wisely, Vanessa stays behind as the girls turn in the money. Some ninjas are most scary when they are tired and when they have to do things that are below their level. Many of the ninjas in the building fell under the second reason, and the Destinies want to avoid causing a scene. (And that doesn't happen too often.)

"By the way…" Meagan explains. "Kiba's going to be training us. Hopefully."

"Training us?"

"You know – sparring with us. During our sessions with Iruka-sensei."

"Cool."

While Vanessa is looking quite cool and spotless in her ninja clothes, her friends are hot and sweaty, and covered in mud. That said, home is the first place they head to. They call out their greetings to Gaara as they walk through the door, but the sand ninja is gone. Gaara has been gone a lot, slipping off to places in the middle of the day, always managing to avoid being seen. It makes the Destinies quite curious to where he has gone. And even though they say 'curiosity kills the cat,' well… Anything that kills cats is likely to be killed by the Destinies, and everyone knows that the world never kills off the crazies until the very end.

Nissi comes out, all clean and fresh, with the wonderful idea that they should go follow their enigmatic…roommate. (They're still quite a ways off from 'friend.') Splitting into teams would be their best bet for finding him, but for that they will need something to keep in contact with. The four grin wickedly, ready for action. It's time to raid the school for supplies.

The trip is short and quick – getting in past all the preying eyes and sneaking out again will be the hard part. And they'll have to do it all with what they've got on them.

Even though none of the Destinies have seen Mission Impossible, they all find themselves humming the theme song quietly under their breath as they move along in the shadows of the school-yard. The windows on the second floor are too high up for the Destinies to reach in their current state of strength – they have no jumping power whatever – and so they have to rely on good old-fashioned teamwork.

Vanessa and Olivia clasp hands to make a platform for Meagan to stand on. The strain on the two girls is immediate, and Nissi has to shimmy up onto Meagan's shoulders very quickly. Even then, she is too short to reach the window sill of the window. Bending down onto creaky knees Olivia, Vanessa, and Meagan tense up as they prepare to spring back up again and send Nissi somewhat flying in the air. They only have one chance.

But luckily for them, as they push themselves up to send Nissi closer to the window, the girl is very small and flies through the air quickly, one hand catching onto the window as she passes by it. She swings herself in and immediately goes down low, as not to be seen.

"All clear," she gives the thumbs-up sign to her friends, then looks around for something to haul them up with. Destroying anything in the room would be a dead giveaway to their presence, so that is out of the question. The only thing she can find is a very old, very tattered rope that looks as if it would give away at any second. She drops it out the window and lowers it down.

Meagan goes first. Luckily for the others, she doesn't have time to complain. It is either get hauled up quickly or get caught. Clutching on for dear life, Meagan hopes Nissi has enough strength to pull her all the way up. She does, luckily, but Meagan just barely makes it as the rope snaps just as she is below the window. She squeaks, and closes her eyes for the fall. It never comes. Cracking open an eye, she sees that Nissi has grabbed her hand and is hauling her through the window.

"It's no good," Nissi calls down when she gets Meagan completely in. "The rope is too short now, and it wouldn't hold for you guys."

"Change of plan," Vanessa replies, "we go in the front way. We'll meet you up there in five minutes. And if we don't…grab the stuff and get out."

"Understood."

Resolved, Olivia and Vanessa march off to the front, ready for action.

There aren't many people in the school now, as opposed to when they had last left it. The two were hoping for a large crowd to cover them, but that will not be happening. So the two go for the next best thing. They walk in, straight and proud. The ninja look at them as if expecting some kind of attack, but they just point down the hall and say, in a somewhat desperate voice,

"Bathroom."

The others take this excuse very well, but the two still feel too many eyes on their retreating backs as they walk quickly down the hall and practically throw themselves into the restroom. When no one comes in after them, they set to work. After Naruto's many attempts to ditch school – and to the Destinies it seemed as if they would never hear them all – a person would have thought that they'd make the place less, well, easy to break out of. Or into, in their case.

Balancing themselves on the sinks, they crawl through the vent one at a time until they are both moving – slowly but surely – up to the second floor. It may sound easy, but with the amount of spiders crawling through those things, it takes a lot to keep quiet. Vanessa has to stop every few seconds to regain herself, which is okay with Olivia. The two peek out of all the vents until they finally make it to Nissi's little hide-out.

"We were just about to leave without you," Nissi brushes stray spider webs off of her friends, then signals for them to follow her. "I think everyone is downstairs, so this part should be easy."

The four creep along the hallway, keeping to the shadows as always. When they find a supply closet, Meagan jimmies the lock and in they go. Olivia plays look-out as the others sort through numerous boxes of junk, until…

"Got it."

"Finally. Olivia and I have to get back down to the bathroom on the first floor, or they're going to get really suspicious. Gotta go."

And back into the vent they went.

Long story short, Olivia and Vanessa get down to the bathroom just as one of the ninja begins tapping on the door, asking if they are okay. They open the door with startled looks, answering that of course they are okay and that they are sorry it took so long. Then they exit just about as quickly as a person can without seeming suspicious. Back at the window, Nissi and Meagan are waiting for them so they can drop down and be caught. Vanessa and Olivia link hands – they know the drill.

Victory, it seems, is at hand. But just as they are about to strap on their prize and go Gaara-hunting, an unexpected voice comes out at them seemingly from nowhere.

"Oy, you four!"

The girls wince. They can't help it. When they are caught, they can't help but think more thoughts – most on how to escape – and then feel guiltier. They wonder who has captured them, and turn to see. There, before them, stands a familiarly masked face.

"Ah…Kakashi…"

Vanessa can't help but grin, remembering how she completely trashed Kakashi's collection of Icha Icha Paradise books. From the way he is looking at her, it seems that he remembers as well. She laughs softly and shrugs.

"What are you four doing?"

The girls can see there's no getting out of this one. Vaguely they wonder why they bothered to sneak in and get all the equipment at all. Kakashi regards them all.

"I've been watching you since you left Kiba's house."

"Stalker!"

A raised eyebrow, "Stalker?"

"Sorry. Natural response."

Swiftly, Kakashi swipes the items the girls had worked so hard to get from them, obviously planning to return them to their rightful place. The girls sigh. Kakashi musses their hair as he does for Naruto – with the same results; the girls don't like it either – and gives them some Jounin advice.

"Ninjas may be isolated from each other without anything to contact each other with. If you want to be good ninjas, you should do the same."

And he turns them all around and points them in a general direction. They trudge off, discouraged but not completely out of spirits. After all, there is practically nothing that they can't do, despite the general opinion of the others. Running with their newfound ninja speed, the four girls quickly leave Kakashi behind and head off towards the Hokage monument. Vanessa can't help but grin at it – the memory of what she did do it is forever burned in her mind. (No pun intended.) A flash of colors at the top alerts them to the presence of an unidentified person. The chances that it could be Gaara are slim, but the girls have to take any chance they can.

As they split up to go around the person, a flash of red is all they need to confirm their suspicions: It's Gaara.

"YAAH!"

"What the – ?"

The Destinies pounce on their target, barely noticing as they fly off over the edge of the Hokage monument, hit the grass, and continue rolling. Now the girls, still under the impression that the person they have under their clutches is Gaara, work quickly to get him bound and gagged. After all, it wouldn't do to leave him armed and dangerous. The complete lack of struggling and angry words surprises them, but they figure that he is in too much shock to do anything. When he is bound, gagged, and sitting at their feet, the Destinies let themselves relax and take a look at their prize.

Kiba.

Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. Sweatdrop. "Uh-oh…"

Akamaru comes ripping through, pouncing on Kiba and immediately beginning to draw his teeth through the ropes. The ninja looks at them with a mixture of awe, fear, and quite possibly raw hatred in his eyes; the Destinies laugh nervously, then break out in explanation.

"So sorry, Kiba! We thought you were Gaara!"

"Are you guys fond of jumping me?" Kiba asks as soon as Akamaru bites through the ropes around his hand and allows him to pull free the gag. "Well on the upside, at least you didn't kick me in the balls."

Olivia coughs. "Again, really sorry. Tell you what, Vanessa will make it up to you. Treat you to ramen, play with Akamaru – you name it."

"WHAT?"

"Meanwhile, I'm going to find Gaara. He's probably back at home. Ja!"

And quickly, she exits the scene. Just as quickly, Meagan and Nissi run after her, leaving Vanessa and Kiba quite alone.

**I'm stopping it there because I had an idea for the next chapter. And if I'm going to do it, I need to stop there. Gah, that chapter is really short though. Next chapter, I think I'll take Nissi's advice and try an omake. This time, though, I have to update because Vanessa is home now. ; **


	9. Chapter Nine

**Hello All! It is I, Vanessa! I am posting for Hatori-san because her comp is retarded and Nissi was writing the end of this chapter. She was taking freakin forever to update, so I blackmailed her. I stole her wittle teddy bear.. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto—don't we all?—but alas! I do not…**

* * *

"Hey, have you guys seen Vanessa?" 

The Destinies turn to look at their fox friend, regarding him for a moment, then turn away.

"Nope. Haven't seen her all day," Olivia flips Nissi's hair between her fingers. "She left early this morning."

"We thought she was with you," Meagan adds, turning up her CD player.

Nissi remains silent.

Naruto runs his hands through his wild hair and sighs, "I haven't seen her either."

Gaara fixes his cold stare on Naruto, "Don't worry about her. These crazies won't die any time soon."

Cue happy grins and peace-signs from the destinies.

Naruto laughs, "Yeah. You're right."

"If you find her, tell her to leave a note next time she goes out, okay?"

"'Kay."

Naruto waves and leaves the house in search of Vanessa. Konoha is so big, though, Naruto wanders around for a while until he finally comprehends that he has no idea where he's going and sits down on the nearest bench. '_I have no idea where she goes…_'

A pout comes onto his face, deepening with each second that he is not with Vanessa. He loves being with Vanessa; there is a certain clumsy grace about her that separates her from the other Destines, and she never ceases to be entertaining. Plus, she's a great prank buddy. Today though, Naruto just wanted to chill with the blond. He bought a few yakitori sticks from a street vendor and continued his search for Vanessa.

"I hope this day doesn't end in bloodbaths."

"Huh?"

Meagan and Olivia look at Nissi with questioning eyes; the girl gives a deep sigh.

"I didn't tell Naruto, but Vanessa has been hanging out with Kiba these last few days."

"So why not tell Naruto?"

"Because,' Gaara enters the room and heads to the door, ready to go wherever he goes, "he would get jealous."

"Jealous? Because Vanessa's hanging around with someone else?"

Nissi nods and resumes the explanation as Gaara leaves, "We all know Naruto's past. He's been alone, even now. But Vanessa is someone he really connects to. You remember the prank days, don't you?"

Olivia and Meagan shudder, grasping each other for support.

I'll take that as a yes. Anyways, even Naruto would be jealous if his favorite girl went to spend her days with another boy."

The wheels of thought begin turning slowly…slowly…and then it clicks.

"Eh? But you don't think that Naruto with actually find them together do you?" Meagan demands of her friend. "What do we do?"

"Nothing," Nissi replies. "We have to hope Naruto has enough sense not to do something totally stupid."

The three look at each other solemnly.

(Meanwhile Vanessa is…)

Vanessa watches happily as Akamaru pads back to her with the stick she'd thrown clamped in its jaws. She'd always wanted a dog of her own, but Akamaru would have to do for now. She takes the abused stick from Akamaru's mouth and tosses it again with all her strength; Akamaru runs off.

Up in his tree, Kiba laughs. Most days, he doesn't get time to play with Akamaru in the normal way—it's nice to have Vanessa around to do it for him.

"You have a good throw, but you need more power," he advises.

"I'm working on it!" She tosses more sticks for Akamaru to chase, then plops down onto a log.

It is fun to hang around different people, she thinks to herself as Akamaru lies down beside her. Naruto, Kiba—who will strike her fancy next? Kiba drops down onto the ground, putting Akamaru on top of his head. The two of them had really bonded, he notices as he looks at Vanessa then up at Akamaru. The thought makes him grin.

"Anyone up for yakiniku? My treat!"

"Free food!" Vanessa jumps up happily. "I'm game for that. On to yakiniku!"

She marches off in the completely wrong direction and Kiba, too happy to tell her off, follows along.

Going the wrong way, though, leads to a much longer walk. Add in the fact that Vanessa doesn't even realize she doesn't know where she is going until after the first ten minutes, and well…by the time they reached the training grounds, they weren't hungry anymore.

"You should have told me," Vanessa scolds.

"You looked so happy! Anyways we can still do yakiniku later," Kiba soothes as he steers Vanessa to the stream.

"Yakiniku!" Vanessa laments, dangling her feet in the water after removing her sandals.

"Don't worry!" Kiba whacks Vanessa on the back.

"AHH!" SPLASH!

Kiba is much stronger that Vanessa, and also more hard of hearing. He doesn't even notice that Vanessa has just been pushed in the stream and is slowly floating away as he continues on with his speech.

'There will always be plenty of yakiniku so long as Chouji stays away…Vanessa?"

Glug glug glug…

"Oh damn!" Jump.

Sad to say, but this is the point where Naruto stumbles into the scene, full of yakitori. He watches as Kiba drags Vanessa from the stream, checks her wrist for a pulse, then gives her mouth-to-mouth. Needless to say, these quick actions save the Destiny and if Naruto is thinking clearly, he will see that. Alas, he is not. This is more to the affect of what he sees:

_"Kiba, save me!"_

_"Don't worry my darling, I'll save you!"_

_Kiba dives into the water, water tossing about their frames as he catches up to Vanessa and holds her head against his chest._

_"It's alright Vanessa, it's going to be okay," he whispers._

_'Kiba…!"_

_Water ripples off them as he carries her out of the stream, holding her close to his chest as she clings to him, as if her life depends on her grip on his shirt—which happens to be white and is sticking suggestively to his skin. He lays her down on the ground, propping her back with his arm, her wrist held gently in his free hand._

_"Vanessa! Hang in there!"_

_"No! Leave me to die! I'm not going to make it!"_

_"Don't say that! I shall give you the kiss of life!"_

Yes, jealousy can do that to you and it doesn't help that Naruto has an active imagination. We could go through the endless thoughts and feelings that run through Naruto's head in the seconds it takes Vanessa to come to, understand that Kiba saved her, and hug him, but there's only one thing we truly need to say.

He snaps.

Running up to Kiba and shoving him against the nearest tree doesn't take more than a second. It's so fast that Vanessa still thinks she's hugging Kiba. That thought changes quickly as Naruto and Kiba begin yelling.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"What do you think you're doing, huh?"

"Naruto, get off"

"You've got some nerve trying to cozy up to my girl!"

Twitch. The boys are so busy fighting, they don't recognize the bloodlust pouring off Vanessa, but everything else does. The birds fly off, the air becomes still; Akamaru whimpers. One big rule with Vanessa is never to call her yours in such a way as Naruto did. Possession is an absolute no-no with Vanessa.

As Naruto continues his verbal abuse to Kiba, Vanessa's bloodlust continues to grow. Only when Naruto raises a fist and punches Kiba squarely in the jaw dos Vanessa let forth her unparallel fury (thank God I've never had to face it. ;) Kiba drops to the ground, mouth opened in shock and awe, as Vanessa spins Naruto around and grabs him by the collar of his jumper.

Akamaru tugs Kiba away by his sleeve, sensing the upcoming danger. "Akamaru, what the--?"

Psewu **©**.There goes Naruto, flying across the training grounds with a very startled what-the-heck-is-going-on? Look fixed on his face. He is going so fast that when he hits the ground and begins skidding, he continues to do so even as he hits the water. Over the stream he goes, then he crashes into a tree.

On the other side of the water, Vanessa stands breathing heavily. The wind picks up suddenly, spinning round and round the enraged blond. Leaves slash at her skin, cutting her. Blood drips from the cuts. Behind his tree, Kiba watches as Vanessa raises her hands and points them at his confused friend.

"What's going on…?"

Akamaru barks, alerting Kiba to the smallest of flames circling around Vanessa's elbows. Faster and faster they go, until they have grown to the size of Vanessa's fist and begin to spiral down her arms. Soon the flames have reached to the tips of her fingertips.

The wind has spread out now, no longer just circling Vanessa. But the blond isn't noticing anything just now. The only thing she is focusing on is letting off all her energy to Naruto. The flames circle out away from her arms and, at an enormous speed, fly towards Naruto. Kiba yells, Vanessa drops to the ground, and the fire whacks the space two inches away from Naruto.

"Waah…" Kiba scrambles up and over to Vanessa. "Hey. You okay?"

Vanessa gives no reply; she is too shocked to say anything. From his spot two inches away from the charred ground, Naruto is also speechless. Kiba, quite sure that nothing is wrong with Vanessa, runs off to check Naruto's health.

"You okay?" Kiba hauls the blond to his feet.

"I'm…sorry I hit you," Naruto whispers, wide-eyed. "I won't do it again."

Kiba sighs, "I'll never hit you either, not if she's going to do that again. C'mon."

Back to Vanessa, the Destiny is still shocked. She doesn't even acknowledge Sasuke as the ninja comes up behind her. _'What did I do…?'_

WHACK! The destiny comes back to reality as Sasuke lands a nice punch to her stomach. She doubles over and clutches her stomach, anger fueling up again.

"What the hell is you problem!" Vanessa rears up to face Sasuke.

"I've been calling your name, idiot. Had to get your attention somehow. What happened? Did you do that fire thing?"

"Uh…I think so."

Sasuke looks at her square in the eyes for a while, thinking. "You're not like these other idiots. You have something different…"

(And back with the other destines, the three sneeze all at the same time. "Hey, someone' talking about us.")

"What are you talking about?" Vanessa asks, rubbing her stomach.

"Hn. Gather up the other idiots." (more sneezes)

"What for?"

"We're going to train."

Twenty minutes later, the teams have been divided up. Nissi and Vanessa are going to train with Sasuke and Olivia and Meagan are going to train with Naruto. In these cases, its had to tell who's more unlucky. Those training under no-rest-no-mercy Sasuke or those training under I-hate-you-all-you-pulled-me-from-my-ramen Naruto.

Once Naruto and his charges leave the area, Sasuke turns to his own. "Lets go," Sasuke orders, waiting as the two get into a comfortable position.

Then…he attacks.

With Sasuke there is no, 'I'm tired' or 'I'm hungry'. There is only training and improving, an endless cycle. He attacks Vanessa first; the blow is so fast she doesn't even have time to block and goes flying into the trees.

"Vanessa!" Nissi shouts. "Agh…."

She stumbles as Sasuke jabs her ribs roughly. A little more power and she is sure they would have broken. _'Vanessa will be fine, I need to worry about me.'_

Sasuke comes at her again, but Nissi cannot gauge where he is going to attack. Undaunted, she pulls out a kunai and throws it—it goes right through him.

"Bunshin?" she gasps. Her brain nearly overloads as she hears Vanessa call out her name and feels a shuriken dig itself into her skin. There's only one thing to do: she transforms.

Vanessa sighs as she see the real Sasuke toss a large wave of kunai's, shuriken, and other weapons that embed themselves in the log Nissi left behind.

"Hope she doesn't hate me for stabbing her," Vanessa whispers as she changes locations—she doesn't want Sasuke coming after her.

Unfortunately, Sasuke found her the moment her shuriken met its mark on Nissi's body, and is now running full speed at the hiding blond. The moment she picks up on his presence, it is almost too late for her to attack or defend herself from the oncoming attack. Luckily, it is time for Nissi to return Vanessa's favor—she sticks her foot out from a very large, very ugly bush with pink and yellow flowers and trips Sasuke, who goes flying.

"Thanks Nis!" Vanessa flips away as Sasuke tries in vain to toss a kunai at her; the angle was bad and the weapon didn't even come close to hitting the blond.

Meanwhile…

"Naruto, stop lamenting over you ramen and come train us!" Meagan tries to drag Naruto off of the ground and to attention, but to no avail.

"Meagan, leave him alone. He's not going to train us," Olivia leans against a tree. "He's depressed. He was pulled away from his ramen.

"Rrgh!"

And back to Sasuke…

"You're dropping your guard! You're never going to get better if you keep getting hit!"

"Shut up!" Vanessa shouts as she plops to the ground. "We need a break."

"No breaks! Do your fire thing, and they maybe I'll let you go."

"I don't know how! I told you that! Are you deaf or something?"

Ten minutes later, after Sasuke has thrown out his entire arsenal of kunai's and shuriken's, Nissi gets in a punch and sends him flying a good ways away.

"C'mon Sasuke. We're finished."

"Hn. I guess you really can't do it. Whatever. We're done."

"Finally. Lets go find Olivia and Meagan," Nissi says.

"They're at home," Sasuke mutters. "I'll guarantee it."

But the two don't hear.

"I don't want to move!" Vanessa cries, distressed and tired.

And with that, she denies Nissi's proposal to find that others and flops down on her back, arms and legs spread out like a snow angel.

Nissi shrugs, not really caring either way, and bounds over to one of the flower bushes to observe: there aren't flowers like this back in their world. She is filled with the euphoria that comes to some after a big workout. Yes, she is tired, as Vanessa is, just more enthusiastic.

Sasuke, on the other hand, is irritated. Unbeknownst to the Destinies (least they feel constrained) him and the others are under strict orders that no girl is to be left unattended if they leave the house. This is harder than it sounds, since they have a tendency to just _walk_ off without telling anyone. If he was going to do nothing, he'd rather do it alone, not baby sit some deranged, teenage girls.

A soft touch behind his ear snaps him out of his thoughts. He's not even sure how she snuck up on him unawares, but he turns his head to suddenly find Nissi's retreating back, her giggles accompanying her running footsteps back to the bush. These girls are not good for him, he decides; they are wearing down his guard with their utter nonsense. Annoyed, he reached behind his ear to retrieve what Nissi has left there.

A flower.

At first he flicks it away, still mad that she's snuck up on him. Then he is annoyed even further still by the fact she's stuck a flower in his hair. No one ever gave him _flowers_. It was just one of those things everyone silently agreed on: don't give Sasuke flowers.

But then…he thinks about it again: No one ever gave him flowers. Only this time, he thinks of it in a different light. No one ever _gave_ him flowers. All of a sudden interested in this train of thought, he picks up the forlorn bud and holds it up between his fingers. It quite possibly might, he contemplates, be the first flower he has ever received from anyone. It is the first he can remember at any rate. He looks over at the girl, who is once again at the flower bush (Vanessa has fallen asleep nearby). She is crouching, balancing on two sandaled feet, just staring at the flowers. No movement commences from her, save to blink.

…Nissi; is an odd girl, he cannot deny that. Granted, they were _all_ odd, but Nissi…Nissi piques his interest. She is shy, but very outspoken when in the presence of a friend. She is also rather clever, but some of the _things_ she says…suffice to say, they make you wonder about her mental stability. Take the other day, when Vanessa and Carinne had decided not to wake Olivia up and thus made her late to training. When Olivia had arrived during their break and Kakashi had left to get them some food, Nissi immediately came up with an excuse fro the frantic girl:

_"Hey, hey! I know! Tell him you had liver problems!"_

_"Liver problems?"_

_"Yeah! Because you ate a bouquet of roses!"_

_"What!"_

_"Mmhmm. You were having some stomach problems so a friend sent you some roses, but you were woozy so you thought it was candy!"_

_"Uh-huh…"_

_"And you're late because you were grieving with your parents about your death!"_

_"But I'm right here!" _**(1)**

Needless to say, Olivia ended up running three miles as punishment upon Kakashi's return. Sasuke wonders if she actually believed it would have worked.

She has the most peculiar taste, he thinks. She prefers comfort over style and practically when it comes to clothes, and nothing is ever too spicy or too sour. She lazes around, doing absolutely nothing for herself and asking everyone else to do it for her, such as getting up and closing the door or boiling water for soup. But if anyone wants her to do something, be it a command or a request, she'll do it, and she'll work hard and with enthusiasm. Sometimes she doesn't' even wait to be asked. Sometimes she says she doesn't want to do anything, but doesn't want to do _nothing_ either. Sometimes she's starving, or craving for food, but claims that at the same time she doesn't want to eat. It doesn't make _sense_. She's a contradiction upon herself.

And when she does eat, it sometimes scares him. She puts hot sauce in her eggs **(a/n: Vanessa says yummy!)**, vinegar in her soup, and she does this weird thing with milk and juice powder.

She likes cheese. In fact, she's obsessed with it. She claims to like shrimp more, but only for the taste. He understands why she likes shrimp; she obviously likes the taste. Perhaps a bit too _much_, but there is a solid reason to _why_. But cheese…she only likes it because it _is_. She doesn't' claim the taste extraordinary, like shrimp. In fact, there are several other things she finds tastier. She why cheese? Why did she like it so much?

Just because? He watches her intently as she stares oh so dedicatedly at the flowers, unmoving. What interest does she see in something as simple as cheese or as common as a flower bush? The only explanation he can _really_ acknowledge is "Just because."

If that is true, then this girl is truly a wonder to him. How is she able to love something as simple as _cheese_, simply because she can? It is not extraordinary nor miraculous, yet, here is her obsession. Nissi is a very loving person, he notices. She most definitely loves the other girls as if they were sisters, and he knows she as two brothers who are twins, and a sister, mother and a father, all whom she loves very much; she talks about them enough. And if, he begins to wonder, if she can love something so simple in such and unconditional manner, can she perhaps love something a bit more complex…? Perhaps something as complex as another person..?

Sasuke shakes his head for thinking so long and methodically of something so trivial as to why a person prefers cheese over certain things. It is silly, he convinces himself. The dirt shuffles under his feet as he makes his way over to the two girls; Nissi has still not moved an inch. He softly kicks Vanessa's side, but for her sore body it is enough to wake her up with a drawn out, "Oooow…"

He looks down at her with his usual expressionless face and says, "Get up. We're going to get food."

Nissi finds this reason enough to actually move and straightens up with a lit face, "We're we going?"

As Vanessa groans and rolls over, Sasuke ponders this.

"We're going…to get cheese."

A cold wind blows. The trees rustle over head, long after the decision to get food has been made. A voice stirs…

"Can someone help me get up?"

* * *

**© by Gure**

**(1) This actually happened. Except it was for unfinished homework, not being tardy.**

**There you have it. Please comment!**


	10. Chapter Ten

**Once again, I have been blackmailed. Something about Vanessa taking my 'widdle teddy bear' and tossing it out the window. And then beating me. Either way, this is still late. So there, Gure. xD**

**Disclaimer: I own next to nothing. Y.Y**

**

* * *

Chapter Ten**

"Guess what, Gaara?"

It is a very un-Destiny like question. There are no runs, jumps, and frantic glomps. It is the Destinies sitting on the couch asking their ninja friend a question. But when that ninja friend is Gaara -- and a Gaara that has just come back from training, no less -- their Destiny ways are a bit limited. Gaara slings a towel over his shoulder and downs the cold drink the girls had set out for him.

"What?"

"We're bored. How mad would you be if we, hypothetically, had set up a few entertaining traps in your room?"

The four are so suddenly surrounded in sand they don't even have time to blink before everything goes dark and Gaara's voice is ringing loudly in their ears. "I give you five minutes to get rid of them. Beginning now."

He releases them and they go scrambling to erase everything relating to a prank from Gaara's room. Gaara, as the girls disappear from sight, goes for another drink. Inside Gaara's room we hear the usual chaos -- "Oh crap! Meagan, don't take another---" Whump! A bag of egg yolk comes flying onto her head, splitting on impact. "...Step. Sorry about that."

He's been feeling off for a while -- Tsunade, when he went to see her about it, told him that he was probably just feeling homesick. That, he most definately is not. He feels no emotional attachments to his home country; rather, he refuses to feel any emotional attachments to his home country. He despises everyone who ever lived there, and couldn't care less if he ever went back. But that isn't the point. The point is that he isn't feeling his usual self, and being trapped with four girls whose life mission seems to be driving him crazy is not helping his mood.

From inside his room he hears their shrieks as what would have happened to him had they not warned him happens to them. For some reason he wants to see what their own tricks have done to them, so he makes his way down the hallway to his room and opens his door. The chaos is unimaginable. Meagan is covered with egg yolk and a thin layer of flour. Vanessa's skin is pink, her hair is tinged with blue ink, and as Gaara opens the door she runs quickly for the sink. (1) Olivia seems to have taken most of the blunt of the falling flour that only dusted onto Meagan -- she sits in the corner white as a ghost and coughs up yellow feathers every once in a while. And Nissi is covered in melted cheese and crunched up crackers, but she doesn't seem to mind as she scoops bits of it onto her fingers and eats it.

Gaara blinks a few times, rubs his eyes a few times, and wonders if he's dreaming. Olivia moves from her spot in the corner, towards the door. She stumbles and her hand flips the light switch off. The room plunges into drakness and a splash is heard. When Gaara flips the light back on Olivia is soaked with water.

"Whoops. Forgot one," Nissi ate another handful of cheese.

"If you'll excuse me...I'm going to go see Tsunade about these feathers," she coughs up another round of them, then pushes past Gaara and disappears from the group's sight.

"What...did you expect the final image to be?" Gaara whispers. "Like, if I had gone through all this."

The three look at each other guiltily, and Gaara does not fail to see Vanessa pass a small piece of paper to Nissi, who promptly shoves it down her throat with yet another handful of cheese and crackers. The Destinies tidy up Gaara's room as said ninja watches then respectfully bow out so Gaara can have his peace and quiet for the day. It's times like these that Gaara would like nothing more than to lay his head on a pillow and fall asleep. Instead he opts to sit on his bed and stare out the window. The night is cloudy; no stars appear in the vast night sky. Gaara watches as the full moon flickers in and out of view as the clouds roll over it.

Full moon. Gaara shivers as the demon blood inside of him begins to boil. He wonders what it would be like to fight his four roommates, too see them use all of their genius stupidity in a way that really meant something. Fighting for their existence... He wonders if they've ever really had to. And how long would they last, if they were faced with such a challenge?

_'No.'_

He shakes his head in an attempt to remove such thoughts. As long as he is a resident of Konoha -- which really means how long Temari can keep him away from home without worrying about how many people he's killed -- he will just have to put up with the random craziness of the four Destinies. Besides, they aren't all bad. Things are much more interesting in Konoha with them around; even Gaara will admit that.

"Gaara?"

The redhead turns to see the three remaining Destinies pile once again into his room. Nissi is holding a bowl of...something. A weird smell wafts to him -- strange, but not unpleasant.

"We're very sorry that we trapped your room and made a mess," Nissi says. "And we've brought you dinner."

She walks forward and hands Gaara the bowl and a pair of chopsticks. Gaara peers inside, confused.

"Vienna sausages," Nissi clarifies. Soaked in my own special sauce." (2)

"...Thank you," Gaara mumbles. "By the way -- why was Olivia coughing up feathers?"

Vanessa and Meagan snicker behind their hands while Nissi tries to explain.

"We really weren't expecting it. Something happened to her -- we're not quite sure what -- and she passed out for a few seconds. When she came to she was coughing them up. I hope Tsunade-sama can fix it..."

_'And to think that could have happened to me,' _Gaara winced.

Meanwhile...

"Oy. What the heck did you do?" Tsunade raises an eyebrow in surprise.

"We don't know!" Cough. "But _please_ make them go away!"

* * *

The next morning was wet and rainy. And though it has saved the Destinies from three grueling hours of training it cannot not save them from the boredom that is slowly taking over their minds. (3) Olivia had been cured of her feather coughing thanks to Tsunade's amazing ninja skills -- not to mention a few good kicks to the stomach -- and so all the Destinies are primed and ready for a good dose of chaos. Unfortunately for them the rain is coming down pretty hard, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon.

Board games are a definite no-no with the girls -- they'll play every game in the house a few times, decide that they need a bit more spice, and before you know it someone has a pink plastic car shoved down their throat and the paper game money is as valuable as the real stuff. Besides, there aren't any board games for them to play in the house.

"Makes you wonder what kind of childhood these guys had," Vanessa shivers. "When they're not being plagued by traumatic experiences, I mean."

The others nod. Lightning flashes in the distant sky. Minutes pass in silence as the Destinies ability to do nothing keeps growing. It is just one of those days when you want to do something, but have no motivation to do it. Presently Meagan gets up and tells her friends that she's going 'out.'

"Out where?" the Destinies question. Meagan simply waves goodbye and runs out the door into the rain. The Destinies lose sight of her within seconds.

Vanessa toys with a piece of her hair for about two seconds before she turns to Nissi and Olivia and says, "So. Wanna go follow her?"

The Destinies run out the house and catch up to Meagan -- keeping, of course, in the shadows -- before a person could say 'pickle.'

Meagan, of course, is oblivious to the fact that her friends are following her. She runs along happily -- or as happily as a person can run in the rain -- to a place which brings her great joy every time she enters it. Forget the fact that she's only actually been _inside_ the place one time. Forget the fact that she probably wouldn't be welcomed in with such warmth as she is usually accustomed to. Forget the fact that the owner of said place is a depressing, emo, Fate-rules-all teenager. Meagan is going to Neji's.

The gate comes into view much quicker than it had the first time, which she attributes to the fact that it had been dark then, and her trip in the rain is over. She jumps over the gate with ninja coolness -- never mind the fact that she slides on the pathway up to his house; nobody saw it -- and scurries up to the front door. The doorbell is rung ten times with enthusiasm and as Neji opens the door Meagan pushes right past him with a hearty 'hello.' Poor Neji never saw it coming.

"What are you doing here?" he frowns at Meagan, who beams back.

"I came to visit. There was nothing to do at my house."

"You don't have a house," Neji points out. "You have a residence that Tsunade-sama has so kindly provided for you."

Meagan -- being a child of the military for most of her life -- thinks on this for a few moments. "Yeah. Like I said, there was nothing to do at my house."

It takes everything within Neji not to slap himself on the forehead. No need to be destructive of his own self because one silly girl can't comprehend his thought process. Knowing full well that Meagan is not going to leave any time soon -- at least, not until he entertains her -- he goes off in search of some towels. At the very least he can stop the girl from dripping water all over his clean floors. Not like he cleans them himself, but that's besides the point.

Meagan remains standing where Neji left her until said host comes back with two black, fluffy towels. He tosses one at her head, wraps the other one around her shoulders, and goes off to make some soup.

"Yay! Food!" Meagan towel dries her hair, then goes after Neji.

Meanwhile, the other Destinies are cautiously approaching the house of the dreaded Hyuuga Neji. It's not as if they are afraid of him -- quite the opposite, actually. It's just that they are afraid of what he might do to them if he catches them sneaking around his house in the rain. And even if he doesn't figure out that they are stalking Meagan, Meagan will know. And she'll tell him, and then they'll be dead. Or worse than dead, if Neji can actually pull that off. The point is, they don't want to find out. They are already pushing their luck by entering the premisise of the house.

"No discovery is made without a little danger," Nissi whispers to her friends. What they are trying to discover is unclear at this point, but the Destinies always manage to unearth some discovery in every one of their plots, whether it be _don't play with acid _or _swallowing chalk does **not **make your urine turn different colors _or _yellow feathers hurt like heck to remove from your stomach_. They will find some moral, some discovery, from this experience. Hopefully.

The three slip behind various trees as they make their way to the front wall of the Hyuuga house. Once there they peer curiously into one of the large windows -- only to draw back quickly, their hearts racing. Neji is right in front of the window. A little more and the stalking session would have been at its end. Clutching the fabric over their hearts, the Destinies take several deep breaths and crawl a ways away from the window.

Inside, Meagan is slurping her soup.

"Tomato. My fav." (4)

Neji is silent. He is gazing outside the window, where he could have sworn someone was looking in. Just two seconds ago. But as the rain presses up against the window as the wind blows it he sees the same faces, and lets it drop. It's just the rain. Meagan is -- as usual -- oblivious. She is just happy that she is spending time with Neji, eating his soup... That sort of thing.

"So what are you doing today, Neji?" she slurps another spoonful of soup.

"...I was going to relax with a book. Until a certain someone came along," he replies quietly, once again facing the window.

It isn't just the faces. There is something else going on. He can feel it. Uncertainly, he glances at Meagan. He can't just leave her to go out and investigate. That would be serious rudeness on his part, as he is the host. Plus, he just doesn't trust her. Meagan finishes the last drops of the soup, and puts the dish in the spotless sink. Then, with all the slyness of a rabid fangirl and the speed of a blossoming ninja, Meagan pounces. Her arms wrap around Neji's neck and she swings herself around as said ninja stumbles in surprise.

Outside...

"What happened? I thought I heard Neji yell!"

"She might have glomped him. It's hard to tell over the rain."

"Shh! The rain is starting to let up, so keep it quiet."

And back inside...

"Thank you for feeding me!"

"Ack! Get off!"

"Aw, Neji. You're so me--"

Neji whaps his hand across her mouth; she falls silent quickly. Neji closes his eyes in concentration, and upon opening them again Meagan sees that he has activated the famous Byakugan. His eyes roam over all that he can focus on in his current position. Outside, the Destinies feel the Byakugan eyes getting closer. Closer... Soon they will be caught, and it will be all over. Just a little more...

"Neji ni-san!"

At the voice Neji spins around, his eyes reverting back to normal. The Destinies breathe a sigh of relief outside, crutched beneath the shrubberies.

"N-neji ni-san..." Hinata stands, flushed and frightened, in the doorway of Neji's kitchen.

Meagan lets Neji go and moves to comfort the girl. "Hinata, what's wrong?"

"Oh, Meagan. I'm glad you're here. We went by your house and...and you weren't there so we thought..." Hinata's voice trails off, and she begins to shake. "But we don't know where the others are. And Gaara-san has gone...gone..."

"Gone what?" Meagan's brow furrows.

"Gone crazy," Neji says. "Is that all the weird energy I felt, Hinata?"

"Y-yes."

"Where are the others?" Meagan asks softly.

"They're outside the window, beneath my shrubbery," Neji states bluntly. "My guess is that they were tailing you."

Outside, the Destinies feel Neji's white hot glare focused on them and know the jig is up. They appear, nervously laughing, outside the window. Meagan opens it quickly.

"You idiots! You bakas! I can't believe you were following me! I'm so happy you were following me. Gaara's gone crazy -- we have to do something."

This is said in the space of four seconds, and it leaves the three quite confused. When they do finally piece together that a) Meagan called them idiots, b) she's happy but pissed that they followed her, and c) Gaara has lost it, they spaz.

"What the heck are we going to do?"

They proceed to slip into regular Destiny-panic, until both Hinata and Neji focus their Byakugan stares at the girls, which immediately freezes them. (5) Hinata leads the girls into the living room, where they sit down on squishy chairs and try to get their bearings. Neji is the only one truly calm in the situation, and is thus the one they look to for wisdom. He sighs.

"We're first going to find Tsunade-sama. She undoubtedly already knows what's going on. Then, we're going to stop Gaara."

"And just how do you propose we do that?" Meagan demands. "I mean, have you _seen_ Gaara when he goes crazy?"

"No. I haven't," Neji shoots back. "But it's either we stop him or..."

"Or?" Olivia prods, already knowing the answer.

Neji glares at them, at their immaturity and inexperience. "Or someone dies."

**

* * *

Dun dun duuun! x3 I'm going to like writing the next chapter. I think it's going to be really long. T-T Really long. (sigh) Yup.**

**(1) I didn't mean to make it rhyme. "**

**(2) Cuz Nissi makes awesome Vienna sausages with that sauce. (For lack of better word, I used sauce)**

**(3) Nissi I know you don't get bored, but in here you do. **

**(4) Sorry if that's not your favorite soup, Me-chan.**

**(5) That would scare the crap out of me, at least. **

**Until next chapter you impatient weirdos. Ja!**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Alrighty, Chapter 11 is up. Yup. So... T-T Gure, you evil person. Threatening me for updates. **

**Chapter Eleven**

After the girls calm down, Neji allows them to get up. They're still a bit shaky, but they have a plan. And with a plan, the Destinies can do no wrong. (1) But they do have a bit of a problem with their plan -- they have no idea where to find Tsunade-sama. She could, on one hand, be fighting Gaara. That didn't encourage the girls in the slightest, simply because it meant having to go near the angry ninja. Or she could, on the other hand, be sitting around ordering people. That doesn't do much to encourage the girls either. They sigh. Life sucks sometimes.

Trees begin to fall randomly around the house as things outside get chaotic. They see ninjas flitting around, trying to get into the best attack position. Neji's eyes narrow dangerously as a tree skids into the front wall of his home. Meagan coughs lightly and shoves everyone out, dragging the Hyuuga with her.

The rain has gotten light during their short talking time, and they are glad for it. Following Neji and Hinata, the girls watch the ninjas as they get into position, prepare their chakra, and unleash powerful attacks. Nothing, of course, is powerful enough to really faze Gaara, but that isn't the point. The point is that the Destinies are happy that everyone is doing this, everyone is fighting Gaara. And not just them.

Though, in all honesty, it is probably their fault. Maybe it was the prank from earlier. Maybe it was the stress of insomnia and simply sharing a house with the four girls. Whatever it is, they are sorry. Really sorry. So sorry, in fact, that they've never been so sorry in their life. More sorry than the time they stole Kakashi's book, the time they exploded the crow, and spread recyclables all over the school hallway.

They were **really **sorry.

Luckily for them, Tsunade finds them before they can even get close to Gaara.

"Thank _God_," she fixes a strong gaze onto the girls as they run up to her. "We thought... We thought you were still in the house. You wouldn't have had a chance."

_'We know,' _the Destinies think soberly. "Does that mean our house is destroyed? Really destroyed?"

"Yes. We're going to have to put you somewhere else until we can either repair it, or relocate you completely. But it's not the right time to worry about that."

She slashes calmly through a piece of falling debris -- a cinderblock -- and barely moves as it falls in two at her feet. The Destinies gulp.

"Girls. Do you have any idea what sent Gaara over the edge?"

The Destinies shake their heads. Negative. They know nothing. Neji steps in to offer his two cents while Hinata takes the girl's new ninja packs and hands them out to each girl.

"It may have been their general presence," he states bluntly. "You remember the acid incident? **We **only have to put up with them, mostly, during some of the daylight hours. Gaara has them all the time."

Tsunade titled her head. That might, as much as she hated to admit it, be the reason. While she and a few select others could take the girls..._uniqueness _in stride, Gaara was undoubtedly not one of those persons. He was simply too... Gaara. A sigh slipped through her lips; Neji saw just how tired she was for one brief moment. And then it was gone. She steeled herself, the invincible image of the Hokage coming back to her.

Everything was going to be okay.

"You four!" Tsunade commands. "I hate to say this, but it's probably something you did. You need to think **very **hard and come up with something."

The Destinies nod. They understand.

"And then, you need to confront Gaara about it. According to Naruto, he hasn't let the demon out completely. You need to reach him before that time."

Okay. That was fine. Find the problem -- since it was their fault, most likely -- and then...wait.

_Confront_ him?

As the Destinies try to wheedle out of Tsunade exactly what she means by 'confront,' Naruto and company are trying their hardest to keep the raging Gaara at bay. Needless to say, it is not easy. As Naruto very much remembers, not much can actually faze Gaara when he is transforming. He can easily hold him at bay if he summons Gama Bunta, but the damage would be too much to fix, and the girls won't be used to fighting in such a mess.

Naruto bites his lip. All of them together can not hope to defeat Gaara in this state -- how the hell are the girls supposed to? Although the answer may not be all too simple; they are the Destinies and therefore they _will_ think of something. Eventually. Surely the masterminds of the successful (almost failed) acid attack on an enemy looking to wipe out Konoha could concoct a plan to deal with the person they have been living with, right?

Unfortunately for the Destinies, their spouts of genius are running low as fear began sinking in. Both Olivia and Meagan(2) knew the extent of what Gaara could do and even more if Shukaku was let out to terrorize the city. Let us just say that it was _not _a good thing.

"Why can't we just send out Naruto? He has beaten Gaara already…it should be a piece of cake for him!" Meagan whined, thinking about all the things that an angered Gaara could do to them in mere minutes. She is greeted with reproachful looks by her friends, especially Nissi who taps her foot lightly at her friend's idiocy.

"What part of the basic 'it's your fault, you fix it' did you not understand?" She asked quickly, looking skeptically as the noise continues to escalate its way upward. Gathering their heads together, they tried to think of ways to _not_ handle the situation. Shouting insults at Gaara: Bad. Confronting him with no plan in hopes that at looking at them he would calm down: Even worse. Pushing the scapegoat (Olivia) out alone to deal with the problem again: Worst idea ever.

It seems that the Destinies were indeed in a little pickle here. Nissi, in a stroke of her usual logical brilliance, decides that they try to figure out what the problem was _before_ they try to fix it. It makes plenty sense to the Destinies; I mean…how can you fix a problem when you don't even know what the problem _is_? Wracking their brains with what they had done in Konoha while they were there, they run by incidents to figure out what would trigger Gaara's current state of insanity.

One thing about them was certain…they were _happy_. Gaara, as Olivia and Meagan took turns explaining, had not had a happy childhood. No, his childhood had included assassination attempts ordered by his father and carried out by several ninja including his uncle: the only person that Gaara thought loved him and didn't shun him like the rest of the place he lived in. Surely, the four of them who entered this world of war and danger should have been _scared_ at what was going on around them. Surely four ordinary girls who 'poofed' into this strange world from the TV (or whatever) should be panicking at their current situation and even crying at times. But they weren't. No, the destinies were always smiling, plotting devious pranks, inducing themselves in caffeine, and subjecting the other citizens of Konoha to random acts of craziness.

For someone with Gaara's background, it made perfect sense that after a certain amount of time around them that he would eventually crack. The four girls he lived with…who trusted near everyone they met and trusted each other with their lives…that would die rather than abandon their friends…they weren't right. It was not right…it was insanity…they would eventually turn on each other and chaos would ensue. Perhaps Gaara had been waiting, patiently observing for the first fight that would break out. Only it _never came_. Never.

They still trusted each other with their lives…still would never abandon the others.

Okay…so the destinies could understand, lightly, how Gaara could have been pushed over the edge. The problem was fixing it…calming him down. They couldn't change themselves…they were who they were. If this had been anyone else they would have confronted them by now and shouted at them to deal with it. But no…this was homicidal Sabaku no Gaara. Ever so lightly they had to tread if they hoped not to bring forth the real demon within and lose their lives in the process. Now they had to figure out _how_.

The plan that came forthwith was just as simple as it was stupid; a plan that only the Destinies could take seriously. Yes, it would put them in danger and yes they did not mind. They might actually have fun with this plan…even if they didn't at the time. The plan the destinies had concocted was to simply give Gaara what he had been waiting for…the part of them he had been looking for that would make his world right. That's right…the Destinies were gonna _fight_ with each other. Isn't that such a wonderful plan?

To any normal person, it would be the stupidest idea on the planet; but since when could the Destinies be described as normal? They tried to pull off angry faces. For Meagan it was easy to get mad at someone…not so much her friends but she could find something to be angry about (she had a temper after all). Nissi was the same way with her…well…being Nissi. Vanessa happens to be one of the first to take revenge and Olivia is usually the one that takes all the dog crap underneath her shoe. Yes…poor Olivia. Now…what would the argument be about?

That posed a little problem. In the end Olivia suggested that maybe they divide themselves into separate arguments that eventually collide and turn into one huge fight. The others agree simply because they don't have the time to think of anything else as a building crashed next to them and a seething Gaara sets his sights to the four; tentacles of sand shooting out to swallow them. The four subliminally panic and decide to carry that panic and channel it into their 'fight'. Meagan pulls Olivia aside which leaves Vanessa to handle Nissi.

Soon you can barely hear four voices shouting at the top of their lungs as angrily as they could muster without really being angry. Tsunade and Naruto looked at them with pale faces. What the _hell_ were they doing, arguing at a time like this? They must be out of the frickin minds to even do such a thing. The paleness in both of their cheeks lessened as they start to _listen_ to the words being shouted. They were jumbled and made no sense what so ever. Although the arguments seemed to be anger filled there were hints of fun in them….hints that were barely evident. Gaara, in his current state, could not hear those hints.

In fact….what _was _Sabaku no Gaara doing? He was looking at the girls, not doing anything but still seething. Slowly was he calculating the girls he had so few minutes ago wanted to destroy. Soon it clicked that these girls were…in a sense…right. The sand tentacles retracted from the legs of the fighting individuals as the 'argument' began to combine. Gaara slowly began to reappear as his normal self with an 'I told you so' smirk dancing on his face. The girls stop their fighting and looked at him. Simultaneously, they begin to give him evil glares which he so quickly returns. Without any word, the five of them huff off into different directions with four of them coming to the same destination. It is at this destination where they collapse and gather their breaths. That was _so _frickin close it was not even funny.

"He believed us! I can't believe he believed us!" Vanessa whooped with a restrained volume. They had no idea where the enemy lurked and for all they knew, Gaara could be anywhere at the present moment. Before the others could respond, a blur of orange suddenly stops within their line of sight. It is Naruto and it is easy to see how bewildered he was.

"And people say that _I_ am the most unpredictable person in Konoha. I've got _nothing_ on you guys. Anyway you all have to go to Tsunade. She has Gaara there and is working on him calming down as she gives him one her lectures. Oh! And bring some elbow grease 'cause you can guess who was given the task of cleaning up the village." Despite the past events of the last hour, Naruto was smirking and then rushed off before he had to face four very tired, wet, and seething girls. Naruto better run because he would not want to be captured by the Destinies at this particular moment.

* * *

**Konnichiwa! Meagan here...I wrote part of the chapter. It's a bit short, just over two thousand pages but when you aren't the author and the actual author doesn't tell you the plot then you have no choice but to go with the flow until you too come to an inevitable stopping point. I hope Ori-chan likes my portion...oh well here it is. Olivia has the rest in her hands mwahahaha **

**(1) ...For Olivia to edit because she never told me what it was for or what it was**

**(2) I know more about Olivia now...all the way up to Chapter 345 **


End file.
